To a mixture of 2-nitro-4-tert-butylphenol (2 g) and N,N-dimethylethanolamine (1.3 g) and PPh3 (4 g) in THF (50 ml) was added DEAD (2.6 ml). The reaction was stirred at RT for 1 h, diluted with EtOAc (50 ml) and washed with 1 N HCl twice. The aqueous layer was basified with NaHCO3, extracted with EtOAc twice and washed with H2O and brine. The organic layer was dried over Na2SO4 and evaporated to give {2-[4-(tert-butyl)-2-nitrophenoxy]-ethyl}dimethylamine, was used in next step without further purification.
