Ethyl 7-(7-(hydroxymethyl)-2,3-di-p-tolyl-5H-pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyrazin-5-yl)heptanoate (Example 3) (50 mg, 0.103 mmol) in dry DMF (1 ml) under nitrogen was treated with NaH (60% in mineral oil) (4.53 mg, 0.113 mmol) and the resulting mixture was stirred at RT for 15 minutes. Methyl iodide (7.08 μl, 0.113 mmol) was added and stirring continued at RT overnight. The mixture was added to water (30 ml) and the pH was adjusted to pH1 by addition of 2M HCl. The aqueous was extracted with DCM (×3) and the combined organic portions were passed through a phase separating column and concentrated under reduced pressure. The crude product was purified by chromatography on silica eluting with 0-50% EtOAc/iso-hexane. Further purification was carried out by dissolving the product in DCM (minimal) and loading onto a 20 cm×20 cm preparative TLC plate. The plate was run using a solvent system of 67% EtOAc in iso-hexane (300 ml) and the appropriate strip of silica was scrapped off the plate. The Si was suspended in 10% MeOH/DCM and sonicated. The suspension was filtered, rinsing the solid with 10% MeOH/DCM. The filtrate was concentrated under reduced pressure to afford the title compound;
