Dimethylformamide → 2-(2,2-difluoroethyl)-3-hydroxy-1-methylpyridin-4(1H)-one

To 10 mL of acetonitrile at ice-water bath was added DMF (0.14 mL, 1.8 mmol) followed by oxalyl chloride (0.15 mL, 1.8 mmol) dropwise. To this resulting suspension was added 2-(2,2-difluoro-1-hydroxyethyl)-3-hydroxy-1-methylpyridin-4(1H)-one (0.30 g, 1.5 mmol) in one portion, and the resulting mixture was stirred for 2 h. A solid was collected by filtration, and it was dissolved in 150 mL of acetonitrile. To this resulting solution was added Pd/C (10%, wet, 0.20 g, 66.7% w/w), and the mixture was subjected to hydrogenation under 40 psi hydrogen pressure for 2 h. The catalyst was filtered off, and the filtrate was evaporated to dryness. The residue was dissolved in de-ionized water, and the pH was adjusted to 5-6 using a 6N NaOH solution. The precipitate was collected via suction filtration to afford the crude product (100 mg) as an off-white solid. The crude was further purified by Biotage using reversed phase C18 cartridge to afford the title compound, Apo7080 (66 mg) as white solid. Yield=24%; 1H NMR (400 MHz, CD3OD) δ (ppm): 7.65 (d, J=7.2 Hz, 1H), 6.41 (d, J=7.2 Hz, 1H), 6.19 (tt, J=56.5, 4.7 Hz, 1H), 3.83 (s, 3H), 3.51 (dt, 3J=15.9 Hz, 2J=4.6 Hz, 2H); MS m/z 190 [M+1]+, 188 (100%).