A mixture of 6-chloro-3-(1-piperazinyl)-1H-indazole (3.4 g, 14 mmol), K2CO3 (2.5 g, 18 mmol), 1-[4-(3-chloropropoxy)-3-methoxyphenyl]ethanone (3.8 g, 16 mmol), KI (200 mg), and acetonitrile (125 ml) was stirred at reflux under N2 for 30 hours. After standing at room temperature for 40 hours, the reaction was filtered and the filter cake was washed well with acetonitrile. The filtrate was concentrated to an oily solid, which was partitioned between water and ethyl acetate. The ethyl acetate extract was washed with water, dried with MgSO4, and concentrated to yield 6.9 g of a dark oil, which solidified after 2 days under vacuum. The product was purified by preparative HPLC (Waters Associates Prep LC/system 500 utilizing 2 silica gel columns and 6% methanol/methylene chloride as eluent) to yield 4.2 g. The material was recrystallized from ethanol to yield 3.4 g of glistening, beige, 1-[4-[3-[4-(6-chloro-1H-indazol-3-yl)-1-piperazinyl]propoxy]-3-methoxy-]-ethanone crystals, m.p.=132°-134° C.
