To a solution of 8-hydroxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-9-acridinamine hydrochloride (23.08 g) in dry dimethylformamide was added potassium carbonate (28.75 g), with stirring. After one hr, methyl-2-bromobutyrate (15.89 ml) was added dropwise and stirring was continued overnight. The reaction mixture was diluted with water (1.5 l), and extracted with ethyl acetate (2 l). The organic extracts were dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered, and the filtrate was concentrated. The residue was flash chromatographed (ethyl acetate, 5% triethylamine/ethyl acetate) to yield 30.34 g of ethyl α-[(9-amino-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroacridin-8-yl)oxy]butyrate hydrate.
