597620 Disclosed herein is a process for preparing naratriptan or a salt thereof, the process comprising: (a) reacting a compound of formula (3) with a compound of the formula HCCR wherein Z is a protecting group, Y is a leaving group and R is a trialkyl silyl group, a trialkylstannyl group or a zinc (II) halide, to obtain the compound of formula (4) (b) converting the compound of formula (4) to a compound of formula (5) wherein Z is hydrogen or a benzyl group (c) converting the compound of formula (5) to naratriptan and (d) optionally converting naratriptan to a salt thereof. Also disclosed herein are compounds (3) and (4) and processes for their preparation.
