N-Boc Deprotection of 13 using HCl in various organic solvents was initially problematic in that adventitious water present in both the solvent and starting material 13 led to varying degrees of hydrolysis (13-30+%) to form carboxylic acid 8a and/or primary amide 8b. It was anticipated that hydrolysis could also occur during Bocdeprotection of 9. Formation of by-products 8a and 8b were minimized via azeotropic removal of residual water in 13 using recoverable toluene under high vacuum. Prior observations by BMS on related nitriles indicated that inclusion of a sacrificial nitrile, such as CH3CN, reduced undesired competitive hydrolysis during N-Boc deprotection, likewise under acidic conditions. Indeed, applying both procedures (azeotropic drying of the educt and then adding dry CH3CN) afforded the desired nitrile amine 8 as its HCl salt (95%) with only 3% hydrolysis. Separation and removal of residual 8a and/or 8b could be easily accomplished by dissolving the mixture in MeOH and precipitating pure 8 using ice-cold Et2O.