Patent ID: 6916347

Claim:
A process for the preparation of a compound of formula (1) comprising (a) reductively aininating a compound of formula (2): with a reagent of the formula R 1 R 2 NH and a reducing agent to produce a compound of formula (3) and (b) subjecting the compound of formula (3) to catalytic hydrogenation to produce a compound of formula (1) wherein R 1 and R 2 are each individually selected from the group consisting of hydrogen atom, a C 1 to C 5 alkyl group, a C 1 to C 5 mono or dihydroxyalkyl group, phenyl or benzyl optionally substituted with a hydroxyl, amino or C 1 to C 3 alkoxy group, or R 1 and R 2 together with the nitrogen atom to which they are bound form a C 3 to C 6 saturated or unsaturated ring, optionally containing in the ring one or more additional hetero atoms selected from O, S and N atoms.