2-(4-Nitro-phenyl)-ethylamine (10) (1.64 g, 9.89 mmol) and triethylamine (1.5 ml, 10 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (20 ml) was cooled on an ice bath. Ethyl malonylchloride ( ) (1,49 g, 9.89 mmol) in dichloromethane (10 ml) was added over a period of 30 minutes. The ice bath was removed and the reaction mixture was allowed to stand overnight. The precipitated triethylamine hydrochloride was removed by filtration and the remaining organic phase was washed with hydrochloric acid (1 M, 3  10 ml), sodium hydrogencarbonate solution (15 ml) and brine (15 ml). The solution was dried over magnesium sulfate and the solvent was evaporated to afford an off white solid. The product was purified by dry column chromatography ( Phenyl chloroacetate (20) was prepared by the literature procedure.