5-Methyl-6-chloropyrimidine-2,4-dione (1.00 g, 6.22 mmol) was dissolved in dimethylformamide (15 mL).To the solution was added cesium carbonate (2.02 g, 6.22 mmol) and t-butyl 4-bromomethylbenzoate (1.69 g, 6.22 mmol). The mixture was stirred at room temperature for 20 hours. The solvent was evaporated under a vacuum at 60° C. The residue was mixed with tetrahydrofuran (50 mL) and methanol (10 mL) and filtered. The filtrate was evaporated in a vacuum to an amber oil. The oil was purified by flash chromatography on silica gel eluting first with dichloromethane then with dichloromethane:methanol (19:1) to give the desired product (0.88 g, 40% yield). 1H-NMR (DMSO-d6) δ 11.8 (s, 1H), 7.85 (d, 2H), 7.34 (d, 2H), 5.22 (s, 2H), 1.88 (s, 3H), 1.51 (s, 9H).
