A mixture of 1-[2-(4-Nitrophenyl)ethyl]piperazine hydrochloride (50 mg, 0.18 mmol), 5-nitro-1,3-dihydro-2H-inden-2-one (39 mg, 0.22 mmol), sodium cyanoborohydride (58 mg, 0.92 mmol, and Titanium (IV) Isopropoxide (0.54 mL, 1.8 mmol) was allowed to stir at RT for 3 hours. LC showed formation of the desired product. The reaction was diluted with EtOAc, washed with brine, dried over sodium sulfate, filtered, concentrated and purified by mass-directed HPLC (0.1% TFA in water and acetonitrile). LC-MS (IE, m/z): 397 (M+1)+. (0.31 μM)
