Anhydrous zinc chloride (0.106 g, 0.78 mmol) was fused with a nitrogen purge in a round bottom flask with an open flame. The reaction vessel was allowed to return to ambient temperature, then dioxane (6 mL) was added. To this mixture was added 6-fluoro-3-(2-fluoro-phenyl)-2-methyl-3H-quinazolin-4-one (0.108 g, 0.39 mmol), acetic anhydride(0.111 mL, 1.18 mmol), and 2-dimethylaminomethylthiazole-4-carboxaldehyde (0.280 g, 1.18 mmol in 4 mL of dioxane). The reaction was refluxed 4 d, cooled to ambient temperature, and diluted with water. Sodium carbonate was added until the mixture was basic. The mixture was repeatedly extracted with chloroform. The combined chloroform layer was washed with aqueous bisulfite, water and brine and finally dried over sodium sulfate and concentrated to leave a dark residue. This residue was triturated with ether, filtered and dried to afford 0.051 g (31%) of 2-[2-(2-dimethylaminomethyl-thiazol-4-yl)-vinyl]-6-fluoro-3-(2-fluoro-phenyl)-3H-quinazolin-4-one as tan solid.
