Abstract: A process for preparing an intermediate for synthesizing escitalopram and the pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof from 4-(4-dimethylamino)-1-(4?-fluorophenyl)-1-(hydroxybutyl)-3-(acyloxymethyl)benzonitrile is described. The process involves converting said intermediate into the (S+) enantiomer of citalopram by means of enzymatic enantiomeric resolution.

Abstract: A process for the preparation of citalopram and the pharmaceutically acceptable salts therof is disclosed by reacting 5-cyanophthalide with a 4-fluorophenyl magnesium halide, reducing the 3-hydroxymethyl-4-(4-fluorobenzoyl)benzonitrile with an agent reducing ketones to alcohols, submitting the thus-obtained 3-hydroxymethyl-4-[(4-fluorophenyl)hydroxymethyl)benzonitrile to a cyclization reaction to give 1-(4-fluorophenyl)-1,3-dihydro-5-isobenzofurancarbonitrile without 1,1-bis(4-fluorophenyl)-1,3-dihydro-5-isobenzofurancarbonitrile and treating 1,1-bis(4 fluorophenyl)-1,3-dihydro-5-isobenzofurancarbonitrile with a 3-(dimetylamino)propyl halide in the presence of a base.