0.777 g of benzylbromide (4.54 mmol) were added dropwise to a mixture of 1.028 g of commercially available tert-butyl hexahydro-1H-pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyridine-2(3H)-carboxylate (4.54 mmol), 1.883 g potassium carbonate (13.62 mmol) and a spatula tip of 18-crown-6 in 25 ml of tetrahydrofurane. The reaction mixture was stirred for 16 h at room temperature, filtered and the filtrate was concentrated. The residue was dissolved in dichloromethane, the organic layer was washed with water, dried over magnesium sulfate, filtered and concentrated to yield 1.413 g of product that was used in the subsequent step without further purification.
