Patent ID: 7365216

Claim:
A process for the preparation of a salt of citalopram comprising: (A) dissolving citalopram in a solvent selected from acetone, alcohol, or toluene or mixtures thereof and adding oxalic acid; (B) separating the precipitated citalopram oxalate; (C) suspending said citalopram oxalate in water and adding a base in an amount sufficient to liberate citalopram; (D) extracting the liberated citalopram with an organic solvent, isolating the organic phase and evaporating said solvent; optionally repeating steps (A) to (D), repeating steps (A) and (B) and subsequently; (E) suspending said citalopram oxalate in water and adding base to a pH 6 to 7; (F) adding a solvent selected from toluene, cyclohexane, n-hexane, n-heptane, isopropyl ether or xylene or mixtures thereof and isolating the aqueous phase; (G) adding base to said aqueous phase in an amount sufficient to liberate citalopram and extracting the liberated citalopram with an organic solvent, isolating the organic phase and evaporating said solvent; (H) dissolving said citalopram in an alcohol solvent, adding an acid and separating the precipitated citalopram salt.