The esterification of 4-formylcinnamic acid (I) with methanol and HCl gives the methyl ester (II), which can be obtained by Heck coupling of 4-bromobenzaldehyde (III) with methyl acrylate (IV). The reductocondensation of (II) with tryptamine (V) by means of NaBH(OAc)3 in dichloroethane yields the secondary amine (VI), which is alkylated with 2-(tert-butyldimethylsilyloxy)ethyl bromide (VII) by means of DIEA in DMSO to afford the tertiary amine (VIII). The reaction of the methyl ester group of (VIII) with KOH and hydroxylamine in methanol provides the silylated hydroxamic acid (IX), which is finally deprotected with TFA in water.