A mixture of 1-ethyl-2-fluoro-4-(methyloxy)-5-nitrobenzene (Example 187, step C) (0.93 g, 4.67 mmol), 1-(methylsulfonyl)-4-(4-piperidinyl)piperazine (Example 204, step C) (1.16 g, 4.67 mmol) and K2CO3 (0.774 g, 5.60 mmol) in DMSO (20 mL) was heated at 90° C. for 48 h. The reaction had not progressed sufficiently so the reaction was then heated at 120° C. for an additional 4 h. The reaction was cooled to rt, poured into H2O and extracted with DCM. Some saturated brine solution was added and the resultant was exhaustively extracted with DCM. The combined organics were washed with H2O then dried over MgSO4. The resultant solution was concentrated onto silica and purified by flash chromatography to afford 1-{1-[2-ethyl-5-(methyloxy)-4-nitrophenyl]-4-piperidinyl}-4-(methylsulfonyl)piperazine (1.12 g, 56%). 1H NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d6) δ ppm 7.73-7.80 (m, 1H), 6.75 (s, 1H), 3.91 (s, 3H), 3.23-3.30 (m, 1H), 3.05-3.19 (m, 3H), 2.87 (s, 2H), 2.70-2.84 (m, 2H), 2.53-2.67 (m, 5H), 1.77-1.94 (m, 2H), 1.48-1.67 (m, 2H), 1.19 (t, J=7.42 Hz, 3H).
