Patent 8080662 was granted and assigned to Taro Pharmaceuticals on December, 2011 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The present invention provides a method of preparing a 4-(arylmethyl)amino-1H-imidazo(4,5-c)quinoline of formula (4) by reacting an arylmethylamine of formula (3) with a 4-chloro-1H-imidazo(4,5-c)quinoline of formula (2). The present invention further provides a method of preparing an acid addition salt of formula (5) comprising the step of hydrolyzing a 4-(arylmethyl)amino-1H-imidazo(4,5-c)quinoline of formula (4) with a strong acid, HX. The present invention further provides a method of preparing a 4-amino-1H-imidazo(4,5-c)quinoline of formula (1) comprising the step of treating an acid addition salt of formula (5) with a base.