To a suspension of 13 g of N-[4-(hydroxymethyl)phenyl]-4-(tetradecyloxy)benzamide in 250 ml of tetrahydrofuran is added dropwise with stirring under argon 59.14 ml of 1 molar lithium aluminum hydride in tetrahydrofuran. The mixture is stirred at room temperature for 0.5 hours and refluxed for 5 hours. Ethyl acetate is added dropwise followed by water. The mixture is filtered and the cake washed with ether. The filtrate is evaporated to a residue which is purified by chromatography on silica gel with 2:1 chloroform:hexane to give the desired product.
