Process for preparing ivabradine

#This application is the U.S. national phase of International Application No. PCT/IB2014/000762 filed 19 May 2014 which designated the U.S. and claims priority to IT Patent Application No. MI2013A000830 filed 22 May 2013, the entire contents of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

#The present invention refers to a process for preparing ivabradine, in particular a process for preparing an ivabradine salt.

#Ivabradine or 3-[3-({[(7S)-3,4-dimethoxybicyclo[4.2.0]octa-1,3,5-trien-7-yl]methyl}(methyl)amino)propyl]-7,8-dimethoxy-1,3,4,5-tetrahydro-2H-3-benzazepin-2-one has the following formula

#Now it has been unexpectedly found that, by salifying dehydro-ivabradine with hydrochloric acid, a compound with high purity level is obtained that simplifies the subsequent hydrogenation reaction and allows to obtain the corresponding ivabradine hydrochloride in a very pure form and with excellent yields.

#Dehydro-ivabradine hydrochloride salt has not been selected randomly. In fact several inorganic and organic salts have been tested, but no one of the tested salts has provided the excellent results provided by the hydrochloride salt, in terms of yields, purity and ease of operation.

#Furthermore, the use of dehydro-ivabradine hydrochloride allows to directly obtain, after the last reaction, the molecule in the current commercial form thereof, without therefore the need of carrying out further unblocking, salification and purification steps.