To a suspension of NaH (0.959 mmol, 0.038 g, 60% in mineral oil, rinsed twice with hexanes) in 5 mL of DMF at 0° C. under N2 was added a solution of 5-(2-chloro-ethoxy)-2-methyl-1H-indole-3-carboxylic acid benzyl ester (0.873 mmol, 0.300 g, Example 1, Step A) in 3.73 mL of DMF. The ice bath was removed and the solution was stirred for 2 hours at room temperature. Benzyl bromide (0.959 mmol, 0.114 mL, Aldrich) was added dropwise via syringe and the solution was stirred for 19 hours. Water (10 mL) was added and the mixture was stirred for 30 minutes. The resulting precipitate was filtered off, the filtrate was extracted with ethyl acetate (3×10 mL), and the extracts were washed with brine (1×10 mL), dried over MgSO4, and concentrated. The residue was combined with the solid and purified by silica gel flash column chromatography (10-20% ethyl acetate/hexanes) to give an off-white solid (0.236 g, 62%): 1HNMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d6) δ 2.64 (s, 3H, ArCH3),3.86-3.89 (m, 2H, CH2Cl), 4.09-4.12 (m, 2H, CH2OAr), 5.30 (s, 2H, CO2CH2Ph), 5.46 (s, 2H, NCH2Ph), 6.78 (dm, J=8.79 Hz, 1H, ArH), 6.96 (d, J=7.33 Hz, 2H, ArH), 7.18-7.30 (m, 3H, ArH), 7.32-7.40 (m, 4H, ArH), 7.44-7.49 (m, 3H, ArH); MS(APCI+): m/z 434.1 (M+1).
