Ethyl 2-fluoro-3-({[2-(morpholin-4-yl)pyrimidin-5-yl]oxy}methyl)benzoate (375 mg) was mixed with toluene (5 ml), followed by cooling to 0° C. A 1.01 M diisobutylaluminum hydride/toluene solution (3 ml) was added dropwise thereto, followed by stirring at the same temperature for 1 hour. The reaction mixture was subjected to liquid separation by the addition of a 1 M aqueous NaOH solution and toluene. The organic layer was dried over Na2SO4 and concentrated under reduced pressure. The obtained residue was purified by silica gel column chromatography (hexane/EtOAc) to obtain [2-fluoro-3-({[2-(morpholin-4-yl)pyrimidin-5-yl]oxy}methyl)phenyl]methanol (282 mg).
