Condensation of 4-fluorobenzonitrile (I) with piperazine (II) in hot DMSO gives rise to the dinitrile adduct (III). This is then converted into imidate (IV) with HCl/EtOH. Treatment of imidate (IV) with ethanolic ammonia furnishes the corresponding bis-amidine derivative, which is finally isolated as the dihydrochloride salt. (1,2)