A 25-mL flask, with stirrer bar, was charged with methyl 2-(4-((2-(3-chlorophenyl)-6-ethylpyrimidin-4-yl)methyl)phenyl)acetate (52 mg, 0.13 mmol, 1.0 eq.) and THF (3 mL). The flask was cooled to 0° C. under nitrogen. A solution of 1M LiAlH4 in THF (0.31 mL, 0.31 mmol, 2.3 eq.) was added and the reaction was allowed to slowly warm to room temperature. After 4.5 hrs, the reaction mixture was quenched with methanol, diluted with water (10 mL), and acidified with 2N HCl to pH˜3. The mixture was extracted with ethyl acetate (3×12 mL). The organic extract was washed with sat. sodium chloride (5 mL), dried over sodium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. The residue (49 mg) was purified by chromatography on silica gel using hexanes/ethyl acetate (1:0 to 1:1) as eluent to afford 2-(4-((2-(3-chlorophenyl)-6-ethylpyrimidin-4-yl)methyl)phenyl)ethanol (17 mg, 36% yield) as a colorless oil. MW=352.86. 1H NMR (DMSO-d6, 500 MHz) δ 8.38-8.33 (m, 2H), 7.61-7.53 (m, 2H), 7.28-7.25 (m, 3H), 7.16 (d, J=8.0 Hz, 2H), 4.58 (t, J=5.5 Hz, 4.08 (s, 2H), 3.60-3.53 (m, 2H), 2.77 (q, J=7.5 Hz, 2H), 2.67 (t, J=7.0 Hz, 2H), 1.26 (t, J=7.5 Hz, 3H).
