To a methanol (5 ml) solution of 2-amino-2′-tert-butoxycarbonylaminomethyl-5-chlorobenzophenone (0.5 g) was added sodium borohydride (79 mg). The mixture was stirred for 3 hours at room temperature. To the reaction mixture was added acetic acid ethyl ester (100 ml), which was washed with water and, then, dried over anhydrous MgSO4. The solvent was distilled off, and the residue was purified by means of a silica gel column chromatography to give the object 2-amino-5-chloro-α-(2-tert-butoxycarbonylaminomethylphenyl)benzyl alcohol (0.5 g) as a colorless oily product.
