4-tert-Butyl 1-methyl 2-(benzyloxy)-3-hydroxyfumarate (4) (652 mg, 2.12 mmol, Eq: 1.5,) and 3-methyl-3-phenylbutanimidamide hydrochloride (54) (300 mg, 1.41 mmol, Eq: 1.00) were stirred in methanol (7.2 ml). The reaction mixture was cooled to 0° C. and sodium methoxide (229 mg, 4.23 mmol, Eq: 3) (powdered, Aldrich) was added. The reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature. The reaction mixture is a suspension. It was stirred overnight. 5 ml 1N aqueous HCl was added and the mixture was diluted with water, filtered through a sintered glass funnel. The solid was washed with water. The solid was placed under high vacuum to dry to give tert-butyl 5-(benzyloxy)-6-hydroxy-2-(2-methyl-2-phenylpropyl)pyrimidine-4-carboxylate as a yellow solid (260 mg, 21%) as a 1:1 mixture of tert-butyl 5-(benzyloxy)-6-hydroxy-2-(2-methyl-2-phenylpropyl)pyrimidine-4-carboxylate (55) and 3-methyl-3-phenylbutanimidamide. The product was used without further purification.
