To 2.8 g of magnesium turnings in 20 ml of diethyl ether and 20 ml of tetrahydrofuran was added 1 ml of 1,2-dibromoethane followed by 13.94 ml of 2-bromoethylbenzene (dropwise). After initiating the reaction with external heat, the mixture was stirred at room temperature for one hour and then treated, dropwise, with a solution of 10.0 g of 5-methyl-5H-pyrido[3,4-f]-pyrrolo[1,2-b][1,2,5]triazepine in 100 ml of tetrahydrofuran. The reaction mixture was then stirred at room temperature for two hours, poured into an iced ammonium chloride solution, stirred for five minutes, and extracted with ethyl acetate. The organic layer was washed with water followed by a saturated sodium chloride solution, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered and concentrated. The concentrate was purified by means of high pressure liquid chromatography (silica gel; elution with ethyl acetate). Flash chromatography of the resultant oil (silica gel; elution with 10% methanol/dichloromethane) afforded a solid which was recrystallized from diethyl ether/ethyl acetate (10:1) to yield 1.25 g of 10,11-dihydro-5-methyl-10-(2-phenylethyl)-5H-pyrido[3,4-f]pyrrolo[1,2-b][1,2,5]triazepine, mp 92°-94° C.
