Synthesis of gefitinib from methyl 3-hydroxy-4-methoxy-benzoate.

This paper reports a novel synthesis of gefitinib starting from methyl 3-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzoate. The process starts with alkylation of the starting material, followed by nitration, reduction, cyclization, chlorination and two successive amination reactions. The intermediates and target molecule were characterized by 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, MS and the purities of all these compounds were determined by HPLC. This novel synthetic route produced overall yields as high as 37.4%.