Several synthetic methods were developed during the process optimizati
on for the large scale synthesis of nevirapine (1), a non-nucleoside i
nhibitor of HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase. The synthesis of its putative
major metabolite ydroxymethyl-6H-[3,2-b:2',3'-e][1,4]diazepin-6-one (
2) and the oxidation of 2 to the corresponding aldehyde 3, are describ
ed.