N-(4-{2-[4-(Hydroxymethyl)phenyl]ethyl}-1,3-thiazol-2-yl)acetamide (250 mg), 2-hydroxy-1H-isoindole-1,3(2H)-dione (155 mg), triphenylphosphine (249 mg) and tetrahydrofuran (5 ml) were combined under nitrogen atmosphere, and then diethyl azodicarboxylate (0.15 ml) was added to the solution at 0° C. The reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for 6 hours, poured into saturated sodium hydrogen carbonate solution, and extracted with ethyl acetate. The organic layer was washed with saturated sodium chloride solution, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, and concentrated in vacuo. The residue was purified by flash column chromatography over silica gel with chloroform/methanol (20:1) as an eluent, and triturated with ethyl acetate to give N-{4-[2-(4-{[(1,3-dioxo-1,3-dihydro-2H-isoindol-2-yl)oxy]methyl}phenyl)ethyl]-1,3-thiazol-2-yl}acetamide (218.2 mg) as a colorless solid.
