A mixture of 5-amino-1,2,4-thiadiazole (1 g; 9.89 mmol) and 2,4-dimethoxybenzaldehyde (1.81 g; 10.9 mmol) in toluene (30 ml) was refluxed under Dean and Stark conditions for 2 hours. The reaction mixture was evaporated, the residue taken up in methanol (25 ml), NaBH4 (600 mg; 15.9 mmol) added carefully in small portions (vigorous effervescence after each addition), and the reaction was left stirring overnight at ambient temperature. Aqueous HCl (2M, 1 ml) was added followed by aqueous NaOH (2M, 10 ml). The bulk of the methanol was evaporated, water (20 ml) added and extracted with ethyl acetate (2×30 ml). The combined organic was washed brine (20 ml), dried, and evaporated. The residue was purified by silica gel column chromatography (ISCO™ column 120 g; ethyl acetate:heptane 25:75 to 60:40) to furnish a semi-solid residue that was re-evaporated from heptane. 2-3 ml tBuOMe was added, then 2-3 ml heptane, the solid filtered off, washed with heptane and dried to afford 1.22 g of the title compound.
