N-Methyl-N-[(1R)-1-phenylpropyl]-2-(4-piperidinyl)-4-thiazolecarboxamide (i.e. the product of Example 1, Step E) (150 mg, 0.44 mmol) was dissolved in 3 mL of dry dichloromethane. To this solution was added triethylamine (30 μL, 0.22 mmol), 5-methyl-3-(trifluoromethyl)-1H-pyrazol-1-acetic acid (83 mg, 0.4 mmol), 1-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-3-ethylcarbodiimide hydrochloride (84 mg, 0.44 mmol) and a catalytic amount of 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine (˜1 mg). The reaction mixture was shaken overnight at ambient temperature, concentrated under reduced pressure and passed through a silica gel column (2 g) using 1:1 hexanes/ethyl acetate as eluant. The dichloromethane/hexanes/ethyl acetate solution was concentrated under reduced pressure, and the residue was purified by preparative reverse phase High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) using a solvent gradient going from 100% water to 100% acetonitrile to give 85 mg of the title product, a compound of the present invention as an oil. 1H NMR (CDCl3) δ 0.9-1.1 (br m, 3H), 1.7-1.9 (m, 2H), 1.9-2.2 (m, 4H), 2.31 (s, 3H), 2.7-3.0 (m, 4H), 3.2-3.4 (m, 2H), 3.9-4.6 (br m, 2H), 4.96 (br s, 2H), 5.6-6.0 (m, 1H), 6.3 (s, 1H) 7.20-7.45 (m, 5H), 7.8 (s, 1H).
