The present disclosure relates to novel intermediates in the synthesis of elacestrant and methods of making the same. The chiral compound N-(2-((1R,2S)-6-(benzyloxy)-1-hydroxy-1,2,3,4- tetrahydronaphthalen-2-yl)-5-methoxyphenyl)
acetamide (Compound (I-1)), is prepared in two steps: (1) a Pd-catalyzed α-arylation of a
ketone precursor, 6-(benzyloxy)-3,4-dihydronaphthalen- 1(2H)-one, (Compound (a-1)), with N-(2-bromo-5-methoxyphenyl)
acetamide (Compound (b- 1)); and (2) the asymmetric
transfer hydrogenation of the product from Step 1, N-(2-(6- (benzyloxy)-1-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthalen-2-yl)-5-methoxyphenyl)
acetamide (Compound (c-1)), to produce N-(2-((1R,2S)-6-(benzyloxy)-1-hydroxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthalen-2-yl)-5- methoxyphenyl)acetamide (Compound (I-1)). The chiral compound (R)-6-(2-amino-4- methoxyphenyl)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydronaphtalen-2-ol (Compound (d)) is produced from Compound (I-1) by two additional steps: 3) dehydroxylation and debenzylation of N-(2-((1R,2S)-6- (benzyloxy)-1-hydroxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphtalen-2-yl)-5-methoxyphenyl)acetamide (Compound (I-1)) to produce N-(2-(6-hydroxy)-1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphtalen-2-yl)-5- methoxyphenyl)acetamide (Compound (III-1)); and 4)
hydrolysis of N-(2-(6-hydroxy)-1,2,3,4- tetrahydronaphtalen-2-yl)-5-methoxyphenyl)acetamide (Compound (III-1)) to produce (R)-6-(2- amino-4-methoxyphenyl)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydronaphtalen-2-ol (Compound (d)).