A new and practical synthesis of montelukast sodium, an antiasthmatic drug, is described. The key steps are the synthesis of nitrile derivative 4 by chiral reduction of keto ester 9 using (−)-DIP-Cl, synthesis of vinylquinoline framework 16 by Wittig reaction, and Heck coupling of nitrile 4 with vinylquinoline 16. The method is operationally simple and suitable for the industrial production of the drug substance. ... Supplemental materials are available for this article. ...
