To a suspension of sodium hydride (60% in mineral oil, 188 mg, 7.81 mmol) in dry dioxane (3 mL) under nitrogen at room temperature was added dry methanol (0.32 mL, 7.81 mmol) dropwise over 10 min. The reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for 1 hour. A solution of 2,3-dichloro-5-((4-(trifluoromethyl)benzyl)thio)pyrazine (265 mg, 0.781 mmol) in dry dioxane (2 mL) was added over 5 min. and the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 18 hrs. Saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution (15 mL) was added followed by water (10 mL). The mixture was extracted with ethyl acetate and the combined organic layers were washed with brine (20 mL), dried over magnesium sulfate, filtered and concentrated under reduced pressure. The crude material was purified by flash column chromatography (10 -20% dichloromethane in cyclohexane) to yield the title compound as The following compounds were synthesized following the same procedure as 36. To a solution of 3,4-difluorobenzyl mercaptan (665 mg, 4.15 mmol) in dry acetonitrile (8 mL) under nitrogen was added sodium tert-butoxide (997 mg, 10.38 mmol). The mixture was stirred at room temperature for 5 min. A solution of 2-chloro-6-methoxypyrazine (500 mg, 3.46 mmol) was added and the mixture was heated at 85 °C for 90 min. The reaction mixture was cooled to room temperature, diluted with water (20 mL) and extracted with ethyl acetate (2 x 30 mL). The combined organic layers were washed with brine (20 mL), passed through a phase separation and concentrated under reduced pressure. The crude material was purified by flash column chromatography (15% ethyl acetate in cyclohexane) to yield the title compound as a red oil (708 mg, 76%). ¹H NMR (400 MHz, CDCl3): δ 8.02 (s, 1 H), 7.90 (s, 1 H), 7.26-7.20 (m, 1 H), 7.12-7.06 (m, 2 H), 4.35 (s, 2 H), 3.95 (s, 3 H).