The reductive cleavage of 4-phenylazo-3-methyl-5-methylaminopyrazole (I) with H2 over RaNi in ethanol gives 4-amino-3-methyl-5-methylaminopyrazole (II), which is acylated with ethoxycarbonylacetyl chloride (III) in toluene yielding 4-(ethoxycarbonylacetylamino)-3-methyl-5-methylaminopyrazole (IV). The cyclization of (IV) by means of sodium ethoxide in ethanol affords 4,8-dihydro-3,8-dimethylpyrazolo[3,4b][1,4]diazepine-5,7(1H,6H) dione (V), which is finally phenylated by a treatment with powdered Cu and potassium acetate in refluxing bromobenzene