The reaction of N6-(benzyloxycarbonyl)-N2--(tert-butoxycarbonyl)-L-lysine (I) with 1H-tetrazol-5-amine (II) by means of BOP and DIEA or NMM in DMF gives the corresponding amide (III), which is hydrogenolyzed with H2 over Pd/C in etyhanol/HOAc to yield N2-(tert-butoxycarbonyl)-N1-(1H-tetrazol-5-yl)-L-lysine (IV). The reaction of (IV) with methyl acetimidate (V) by means of TEA in DMF (or ethyl acetimidate (VI) and NaOH in ethanol) affords the iminomethyl derivative (VII), which is finally deprotected with HCl in dioxane.
The N-tetrazolyl lysinamide derivative (III) was obtained by acylation of 5-aminotetrazole (II) with Boc-L-lysine(Cbz) (I) using BOP as the coupling reagent. The N-benzyloxycarbonyl protecting group of (III) was then removed by hydrogenation over Pd/C to afford amine (IV), which was subsequently condensed with methyl acetimidate (V) producing amidine (VI). The target compound was finally obtained by N-Boc group cleavage in (VI) under acidic conditions