Synthesis of Nevirapine and Its Major Metabolite.

Several synthetic methods were developed during the process optimization for the large scale synthesis of nevirapine (1), a non-nucleoside inhibitor of HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase. The synthesis of its putative major metabolite 11-cyclopropyl-5,11-dihydro-4-hydroxymethyl-6H-[3,2-b:2′,3′-e][1,4]diazepin-6-one (2) and the oxidation of 2 to the corresponding aldehyde 3, are described.