Trans-4-(4-nitro-3-trifluoromethyl-phenylamino)-cyclohexanol (118 mg, 0.39 mmol, prepared in accordance with Example 5) was placed under an inert atmosphere, dissolved in dry dimethylformamide (2 mL). A molar solution of lithium bis(trimethylsilyl)-amide (774 μL, 0.77 mmol) was added to the resulting mixture. The mixture was then stirred for 15 min at room temperature. Afterward, a solution of 2-chloro-1-[trans-2,5-dimethyl-4-(4-trifluoromethyl-phenyl)-piperazin-1-yl]-ethanone (130 mg, 0.39 mmol, prepared in accordance with Example 3) in tetrahydrofuran (1 mL) was added. The resulting mixture was stirred at room temperature until the conversion stopped. Next, the mixture was diluted with diethylether (10 mL). The mixture was then washed with water (5 mL), and then saturated aqueous sodium hydrogencarbonate (5 mL). The organic phase was collected, dried over magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under vacuum. The crude product isolated was purified by preparative HPLC. Following lyophilization of the fractions of interest, the desired product was isolated as a yellow solid (24 mg, 10% yield). The structure was confirmed using Protocol II-A. Calculated mass=603; observed mass=603; HPLC retention time=4.69 min.
