Sodium Iodide → Noradenalone hydrochloride

10 g (53.6 mmol) of 2-chloro-3',4'-dihydroxyacetophenone was dissolved in 50 ml of acetone, and 600 mg (4.0 mmol) of sodium iodide and 5.23 g (80.5 mmol) of sodium azide were added thereto. The mixture was refluxed for 24 hours. The insolubles in the reaction solution were removed by filtration, and the filtrate was concentrated under reduced pressure. To the reaction solution, ethyl acetate was added, and the mixture was washed sequentially with water and with a saturated sodium chloride aqueous solution and dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate. The solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure, and the oily residue was dissolved in 100 ml of methanol and 13.6 ml of concentrated hydrochloric acid. 1.5 g of 10% palladium carbon catalyst was added to the solution, and the mixture was stirred under heating at 40° C. under a hydrogen gas stream for 5 hours. The reaction solution was filtered, and the filtrate was concentrated under reduced pressure. To the concentrated residue, acetone was added, and the precipitated crystals were collected by filtration to obtain 5.5 g (yield: 50.4%) of 2-amino-3',4'-dihydroxyacetophenone hydrochloride.