Patent ID: 6933386

Claim:
A process for preparing a compound of the formula wherein X and Y are independently selected from O, or X or Y are absent; R 2 and R 3 are independently hydrogen, alkyl or substituted alkyl, R 42 is (R 43 ) n wherein n equals 0, 1 or 2 and each R 43 is independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, fluorine, chlorine and methyl; and R 44 is methyl, or hydrogen, or an enantiomer, diastereomer, or pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, which comprises the steps of a) converting a compound of the formula where R 8 is lower alkyl or aryl and X 1 is a halogen to compound 1 of the formula where R d is lower alkyl, aryl, substituted aryl, heteroaryl or substituted heteroaryl, by treatment with a phenoxide or alkoxide, b) alkylating Compound 1 with an alkylmagnesium bromide to afford Compound 2 of the formula c) treating compound 2 with a peroxide in the presence of a Lewis acid to afford compound 3 of the formula d) alkylating the —OH group in compound 3 to afford Compound 4 of the formula where R 2 is benzyl or substituted benzyl, e) hydrolyzing Compound 4 to afford Compound 5 of the formula where R 2 is benzyl or substituted benzyl, and f) converting Compound 5 to Compound 6 of the formula by first converting compound 5 to a chloroimidate, subsequently alkylating the chloroimidate with Compound 14 of the formula to afford Compound 6 wherein R 2 is benzyl, and deprotecting the phenol by treatment with a hydrogen donor in the presence of a catalyst to afford compound 6 where R 2 is hydrogen.