Methanol → 2-Amino-4,4,4-trifluorobutan-1-ol

12.9 ml of 2 M lithium borohydride solution in THF (25.8 mmol, 2.5 equivalents) were initially charged in 20 ml of THF, 6.5 ml of chlorotrimethylsilane (51.1 mmol, 5 equivalents) were added and the mixture was stirred at RT for 5 min. 2.0 g of rac-2-amino-4,4,4-trifluorobutanoic acid hydrochloride (10.3 mmol, 1 equivalent) were then added a little at a time, and the mixture was stirred at RT overnight. 20.4 ml of methanol were then added dropwise, and after the addition had ended the mixture was concentrated. 12 ml of a 20% strength aqueous potassium hydroxide solution were added to the residue, and the mixture was extracted three times with dichloromethane. The combined organic solutions were dried over sodium sulphate, filtered and concentrated. This gave 1.58 g (96% of theory; purity 90%) of the title compound.