Alkylation of sodium cyanide with 4-tert-butyl-2,6-dimethylbenzyl chloride (I) afforded nitrile (II). Imidate (III) was then prepared by Pinner reaction of nitrile (II) with ethanolic HCl. Cyclization of (III) with 1,3-diaminopropane (IV) in ethanol furnished the desired cyclic amidine. In an alternative procedure, the target amidine was directly obtained by melting at 200 C nitrile (II) with the mono-tosylate salt of 1,3-diaminopropane.