85 ml of a saturated aqueous sodium bicarbonate solution and then 3.81 ml of benzyl chloroformate are added to a solution of 4.6 g of 4-(3-methoxypyridin-4-yl)-2-(propan-2-yloxy)aniline in 115 ml of THF. The reaction medium is stirred overnight at ambient temperature and then 3.81 ml of benzyl chloroformate are added and the reaction medium is stirred at ambient temperature for 2 hours. 2.54 ml of benzyl chloroformate are added and the reaction medium is stirred for a further 2 hours at ambient temperature. The reaction medium is poured into 100 ml of ethyl acetate and 50 ml of water. The two phases are separated and the aqueous phase is extracted with twice 50 ml of ethyl acetate. The combined organic phases are dried over magnesium sulfate, filtered and evaporated under reduced pressure. The residue is purified on 100 g of silica, elution being carried out with dichloromethane/acetone (100/0 to 95/5), so as to give 3.12 g of benzyl [4-(3-methoxypyridin-4-yl)-2-(propan-2-yloxy)phenyl]carbamate in the form of a colourless oil.
