the catalyst may be a noble metal such as palladium or platinum or raney nickel using a solvent such as an alcohol or water also within the scope of the present invention are novel intermediates used in the process of the present invention one of the novel intermediate compounds is that of the formula iv in the following examples the following abbreviations are used g grams ml milliliters n normal mm millimeters c centigrade m p melting point psi pounds per square inch 4 5 g of ortho nitrobenzoic acid are added to 100 ml of a 10 by weight of 10 n sulfuric acid in water solution to the solution is then added 0 5 g of 5 platinum on carbon hydrogenation catalyst the slurry is then stirred and hydrogenated at a hydrogen pressure of 20 psi about 80 u00b0 to 100 u00b0 c for a period of about 20 hours after hydrogenation the catalyst is removed by filtration and the filtrate evaporated in vacuo to give a mixture containing about 30 by weight of the desired product of formula ii which may be purified by chromatography for example column chromatography with silica gel to a solution of 49 g of potassium hydroxide in 35 5 ml of water is added 4 g of ortho nitrobenzoic acid and the resultant slurry is placed in a pressure bottle the bottle is then placed in a thermostatically controlled bath.