of formula ii with the preferred grignard compound of formula iiia the formation of the grignard compound ill and its subsequent reaction with the oxazolidine ii is carried out in a suitable solvent such as ethers c 4 c 12 and mixtures of said ethers with c 5 c 8 aliphatic or c 6 c 8 aromatic hydrocarbons preferably the solvent is selected from the group consisting of diethylether tetrahydrofuran methyltetrahydrofuran dibutylether and the following mixtures tetrahydrofuran toluene tetrahydrofuran xylene methyltetrahydrofuran toluene methyltetrahydrofuran xylene dibutylether xylene dibutylether toluene a compound of formula i for example delmopinol obtained by the process of the present invention may be converted into a pharmaceutically acceptable salt preferably into the hydrochloride salt and delmopinol salts may be converted into delmopinol by known methods described in the art by a way of example delmopinol hydrochloride can be prepared from delmopinol by reaction with hydrochloric acid in any suitable solvent examples of suitable solvents are for instance toluene xylene methylisobutylketone dibutylether methyl tert butylether ethyl acetate and mixtures thereof the compound of formula ii can be obtained by the process summarised in scheme i which can be carried out in two steps or as a one pot reaction as used herein the term u201c one pot reaction u201d is to be given its normal meaning in the art i e the compound of formula ii is produced in a single reaction vessel such that at least a proportion of compounds v and vi are converted to compound iv and subsequently compound ii without the isolation of intermediates the alternative to a one pot.