the present invention is an amorphous compound of the formula i : ## str1 ## as used herein , &# 34 ; l - 708 na + salt &# 34 ; will mean the crystalline form of the sodium salt of l - 686 , 708 and &# 34 ; amorphous l - 708 &# 34 ; will refer to the compound of the present invention , i . e ., the amorphous form of l - 708 na + salt . amorphous l - 708 is prepared by suspending or dissolving the free acid ( l - 686 , 708 ) in a mixture of water and a suitable organic co - solvent or co - solvents , such as methanol , ethanol , isopropanol , ether , acetone , 2 - butanone , acetonitrile , and the like . the solution or suspension of free acid is then neutralized with one equivalent of sodium hydroxide , preferably in aqueous solution . if necessary , to obtain a homogeneous solution , the mixture may then be heated and / or additional water and organic solvent may be added as required . the bulk of the organic solvent ( s ) is then removed by evaporation under vacuum with moderate warming . the remaining , mostly aqueous , solvent is removed by lyophilization ( freeze - drying ) to leave the compound of the present invention as an amorphous powder . if the mixture is to be lyophilized , it is preferred to continue the distillation until the mixture achieves a concentration of 77 - 120 mg / ml and has an oily consistency . this additional concentration both improves the efficiency of the lyophilization step and reduces the residual organic solvent concentration to & lt ; 1 %. alternatively , amorphous l - 708 can be prepared from its corresponding crystalline form . l - 708 na + salt is dissolved or suspended in a mixture of water and one or more organic co - solvents as indicated above . once a homogeneous solution is obtained , the amorphous form is obtained by evaporation and lyophilization as described above . the resultant amorphous material retains the biological properties of its crystalline allotrope but is highly soluble in water . an alternative drying process is to spray dry the above homogenous solutions . advantageously , evaporation of the organic co - solvent is not necessary prior to spray drying . the term &# 34 ; amorphous &# 34 ; is used to describe the physical state of the sodium salt of l - 686 , 708 obtained by drying an aqueous solution of said sodium salt as described herein . in addition to greatly increased aqueous solubility , the amorphous form is characterized by showing no x - ray powder diffraction pattern ( e . g ., on a philips pw 1840 diffractometer ), in contrast to the crystalline form . ( a discussion of - crystalline vs . amorphous states may be found in : solid state chemistry of drugs , by s . r . byrn , academic press , n . y ., 1982 , pp . 10 - 11 and r . suryanarayanan and a . g . mitchell , int . j . pharm ., vol . 24 , pp . 1 - 17 ( 1985 )). another physical parameter useful for characterizing the present invention is differential scanning calorimetry ( dsc ). the amorphous material of the present invention shows a clear exotherm between 180 ° and 195 ° c ., as it converts to the crystalline form . as heating is continued , there is an endotherm at 325 ° c . as the material melts . in contrast , the l - 708 na + salt shows no peak in its dsc between 180 ° and 195 ° c ., and shows the endothermic melting peak at 335 ° c . thermal scans were obtained on samples prepared in crimped aluminum pans under n 2 using a perkin elmer dsc - 4 with a system - 4 controller . the dsc was calibrated with indium ( 156 . 6 °± 0 . 2 ° c .). amorphous l - 708 crystallizes at ca . 190 ° c . with an enthalpy of crystallization of ca . - 30 kj / mol . this is generally followed by a second smaller exotherm at ca . 259 ° c . ( δh =- 7 . 6 kj / mol ). the crystallization enthalpy at ca . 190 ° c . ( δh , obtained by dsc ) of amorphous l - 708 is related to the amount of x - ray amorphous material in the sample . in one set of experiments l - 708 na + salt was assumed to be 100 % crystalline with no enthalpy of crystallization at 190 ° c ., while amorphous l - 708 was assumed to be 100 % amorphous with an enthalpy of crystallization of ca . - 30 kj / mol . 0 to 80 % of ground l - 708 na + salt was shaken with amorphous l - 708 . the enthalpies of crystallization of the blends were measured by dsc and plotted as a function of crystalline content . a straight line with a correlation coefficient of 0 . 9985 was obtained . standard deviations varied between 0 . 06 and 0 . 7 . the fact that a straight line was obtained indicates that seeding the x - ray amorphous material with ground crystalline material does not lead to nucleation and crystal growth . surprisingly , saturated aqueous solutions of amorphous l - 708 are highly stable , i . e ., they do not readily precipitate the crystalline form even when seeded with the crystalline allotrope . the solid material is also highly stable . no change in water solubility has been observed even when stored for three months at 30 ° c . and 60 ° c . at ambient humidity and at 30 ° c ./ 79 % relative humidity . amorphous l - 708 is also highly stable to chemical decomposition both in the solid form and in aqueous solution . amorphous l - 708 is useful as an inhibitor of leukotriene biosynthesis in the same manner as described in ep 419 , 049 for l - 686 , 708 . advantageously , it is much more bioavailable than l - 708 na + salt . ep 419 , 049 is incorporated herein by reference , especially pages 5 - 10 , 25 , and 26 thereof . therefore , one aspect of this invention is a pharmaceutical composition comprising a therapeutically effective amount of amorphous l - 708 and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier . another aspect is a pharmaceutical composition as described above additionally comprising an effective amount of a second active ingredient selected from the group consisting of non - steroidal anti - inflammatory drugs ; peripheral analgesic agents ; cyclooxygenase inhibitors ; leukotriene antagonists ; leukotriene biosynthesis inhibitors ; h 1 - or h 2 - receptor antagonists ; antihistaminic agents ; prostaglandin antagonists ; and ace antagonists . especially preferred is such a pharmaceutical composition wherein the second active ingredient is a non - steroidal anti - inflammatory drug . also especially preferred is such a pharmaceutical composition wherein the weight ratio of amorphous l - 708 to said second active ingredient ranges from about 1000 : 1 to 1 : 1000 . another aspect of this invention is a method of preventing the synthesis , the action , or the release of srs - a or leukotrienes in a mammal which comprises administering to said mammal an effective amount of amorphous l - 708 , especially wherein the mammal is man . another aspect is a method of treating asthma in a mammal comprising administering to a mammal in need of such treatment a therapeutically effective amount of amorphous l - 708 , especially wherein the mammal is man . another aspect of this invention is a method of treating inflammatory diseases of the eye in a mammal which comprises administering to a mammal in need of such treatment a therapeutically effective amount of amorphous l - 708 , especially wherein the mammal is man . the invention is further defined by reference to the examples , which are intended to be illustrative and not limiting . temperatures are in degrees celsius . preparations 1 and 2 appear in ep 419 , 049 as examples 1 and 1a and are copied here for convenience . starting materials also appear in ep 419 , 049 . to a solution of 39 g of methyl 5 -( t - butylthio )- 2 , 2 - dimethyl - 4 - oxopentanoate in a mixture of 300 ml of toluene and 150 ml of glacial acetic acid was added 15 g of naoac and 50 g of 1 -( 4 - methoxyphenyl )- 1 -( p - chlorobenzyl ) hydrazine hydrochloride . the reaction was maintained with stirring at room temperature for 3 days under argon in the dark . the mixture was poured into 3 l of h 2 o and extracted with 3 × 500 ml of etoac . the ethyl acetate was washed with 3 × 500 ml of water then solid nahco 3 was added . the mixture was filtered and the filtrate washed twice with water . the organic phase was dried over mgso 4 and evaporated to dryness to provide the title compound . m . p . 102 °- 103 ° c . the compound from step a was hydrolysed using 325 ml of thf , 600 ml of meoh and 325 ml of 1 . 0m lioh . the solution was heated to 80 ° c . for 3 h . the solution was acidified with 1n hcl and extracted with 3 × 200 ml of etoac . the organic phase was washed with water ( 2 × 150 ml ) and dried over mgso 4 . the solution was evaporated to dryness to provide the title compound . m . p . 190 °- 191 ° c . anal c , h , n : calc . c 65 . 27 ; h 6 . 57 ; n 3 . 04 . found c 65 . 28 ; h 6 . 58 ; n 3 . 04 . a solution of 61 ml of t - butylthiol in 650 ml of dry hmpa at 0 ° c . was treated portionwise with 26 g of 50 % nah in mineral oil after removal of oil with hexane . the reaction was stirred at rt for 30 mins and 46 g of the compound from step b was added . the reaction was then heated under n 2 at 175 ° c . for 5 hours . the solution was cooled , and poured onto crushed ice , after which it was treated with 2 n hcl to ph 5 and extracted with etoac ( 3 × 500 mi ). the organic phase was washed with h2o ( 3 × 200 mi ) dried ( mgso 4 ) and evaporated . the residue was dissolved in 300 ml of ether and ethereal diazomethane was added until all acid was consumed . the excess solvent was removed and the oily residue triturated with hexane to leave a crystalline mass which was recrystallized from etoac / hexane to provide the title compound as a white crystalline solid , m . p . 170 °- 171 ° c . methyl 3 -[ n -( p - chlorobenzyl )- 5 - hydroxy - 3 -( t - butylthio ) indol - 2 - yl ]- 2 , 2 - dimethylpropanoate ( 33 . 6 g ) from step c was dissolved in 500 ml of dry dmf and the solution was charged with 2 . 4 g of ki , 30 . 3 g of k 2 co 3 , 4 . 77 g of cs 2 co 3 and 23 . 5 g of 2 -( chloromethyl ) quinoline hydrochloride . the reaction was stirred at rt , under n 2 , for 72 hours then it was poured into water ( 1 . 5 l ), acidified with 1n hcl and extracted ( 3 × 200 ml ) with ch 2 cl 2 . the organic phase was washed with h 2 o ( 3 × 150 mi ), dried and evaporated . the residue was dissolved in hot etoac and upon cooling crystallized to deposit 22 . 0 g of the title compound , m . p . 166 °- 167 ° c . using the hydrolytic procedure of step b but substituting the ester of step d for the ester of step a provided the title compound , which was recrystallized from 1 : 1 etoac / hexane . m . p . 208 ° c . anal c , h , n : calc . c 69 . 55 ; h 6 . 01 ; n 4 . 77 . found c 69 . 77 ; h 6 . 05 ; n 4 . 70 . a mixture containing 2 -( chloromethyl ) quinoline hydrochloride ( 100 . 0 g ), 4 - acetamidophenol ( 70 . 69 g ) and milled anhydrous potassium carbonate ( 194 g ) was stirred in dmf ( 1 . 2 l ) using a mechanical stirrer for 48 hours . the mixture was carefully poured onto ice / water ( 3 l ) with vigourous stirring . after the ice had melted , the solid was filtered and rinsed thoroughly with water . it was recrystallized from 95 % ethanol and filtered to give the title compound in three crops . a suspension of n - acetyl - 4 -( quinolin - 2 - yl - methoxy ) aniline ( step a , 108 . 9 g ) in 1 l of 95 % ethanol containing 10 m koh ( 120 mi ) was heated at reflux under nitrogen in a heating mantle . when the hydrolysis was complete ( approx . 36 h ), the reaction mixture was cooled and ethanol was partially removed under vacuum . the mixture was then diluted with water ( 200 ml ) and the fine off - white crystals were collected and thoroughly rinsed with water . the material , after air - drying , yielded the title compound which was used as such in the next step . a quantitiy of 84 g of 4 -( quinolin - 2 - yl - methoxy ) aniline from step b was suspended in 300 ml of deionized h 2 o and 84 ml of 12 m hcl . the suspension was stirred vigourously to obtain a fine particle suspension . then a precooled solution ( 5 ° c .) of 23 . 88 g of sodium nitrite dissolved in 75 ml of deionized h 2 o was added dropwise to the suspension at 5 ° c . over 25 minutes . the solution was stirred at 5 ° c . for 60 min to obtain the diazonium salt as a clear brown solution . the presence of excess hno 2 was confirmed by ki - starch paper , and the ph of the solution was about 3 . 0 . if a white suspension persisted after 1 h , the mixture was filtered through a glass wool plug , to give the diazonium salt in the filtrate . in the meantime a sodium hydrosulfite solution was - prepared by dissolving 321 g of sodium hydrosulfite ( approx . 85 % purity ) in 2 l of deionized water , and cooled at 0 ° to 5 ° c . to this solution were added 15 ml of 2n naoh and 2 l of ether . the biphasic solution was kept near 0 ° c . by additon of crushed ice and was stirred vigorously . to this solution was added dropwise the diazonium salt solution with stirring maintained throughout . at the end of the addition an orange solid was formed and 600 ml of naoh ( 2n ) was added over 30 minutes . the reaction was finally stirred for 60 minutes at 25 ° c . the solid was collected , suspended in ether ( 1 l ) and filtered . the process was repeated with 2 l of water to yield the title compound as a pale yellow solid after freeze - drying overnight . m . p . 73 °- 85 ° c . ( dec ). a quantity of 10 g of 4 -( quinolin - 2 - yl - methoxy ) phenylhydrazine from step c was added to a solution of 10 . 5 ml of diisopropylethylamine and 150 ml of ch 2 cl 2 . to the yellow suspension was added 9 . 11 g of p - chlorobenzyl chloride followed by 3 . 64 g of bu 4 nbr and 50 ml of ch 2 cl 2 . the reaction was stirred for approximately 24 hours . when no starting material remained , the reaction was diluted with h 2 o and extracted 3 times with ch 2 cl 2 . the combined organic phase was washed once with water and dried ( mgso 4 ), filtered and evaporated to dryness . the solid residue was dried under vacuum overnight prior to being swished in ether / methanol 90 / 10 to give the title compound as a pale yellow solid . m . p . 130 ° c . the methyl ester of the title compound was prepared according to the method described in step a of example 1 but using the phenylhydrazine from step d of example 1a as starting material . the title compound was prepared under the conditions described in step b of example 1 . a mixture of the methyl ester of the title acid ( preparation 1 , step d ) ( 6 . 25 kg , 10 . 4 moles ) and etoh ( absolute , 45 l ) was warmed to 50 ° c . and a solution of naoh ( 2 . 29 l of a 5n solution , 11 . 4 moles ) in h 2 o ( 5 l ) was added . the reaction was heated to reflux and held at this temperature for 41 hours . the progress of the reaction was monitored by hplc using a zorbax rx column , a mobile phase consisting of 0 . 1 % phosphoric acid : acetonitrile ( 20 : 80 ) at 1 . 15 . ml / min , with uv detection at 220 nm . additional naoh ( 103 . 8 ml of a 5n solution , 0 . 52 moles ) was added and the reaction was held at reflux for 24 hours , then cooled to 60 ° c . etoh : h2o ( 25 l of a 90 : 10 mixture ) was added and the reaction was filtered . the filtrate was azeotropically distilled to remove the water . ethanol was added , as needed , during the distillation to maintain the volume above 62 . 5 l . the distillation was monitored for water content by karl fischer titration . the reaction was concentration to 37 . 5 l , cooled to room temperature , then filtered . the filter cake was washed with cold ( 5 ° c .) etoh ( 5 × 3 . 75 l ) and dried under vacuum at 50 ° c . for 72 hours , providing 5 . 58 kg of the title compound ( 88 % yield ). to a two liter erlenmeyer flask was added 12 . 25 gm ( 20 . 86 mmol ) of the title acid ( preparation 1 ) followed by 100 ml of etoh and 100 ml of h 2 o . the resulting suspension was stirred and 20 . 86 ml of 1n aqueous naoh ( 20 . 86 mmol ) was added . the ph was approximately 8 . to dissolve the bulk of the suspended material , an additional 100 ml of etoh and 300 ml of h 2 o were added with stirring . the resulting mixture was filtered to remove a small amount of insoluble material , and the bulk of the etoh removed from the filtrate on a rotary evaporator at between 30 ° c . and 50 ° c . the resulting solution was lyophilized at - 78 ° c . to yield the title compound . purity by hplc analysis : 98 . 9 - 99 . 2 % solubility in water : at least 3 mg / ml ( at least 5 mm ) ( not tested higher ). crystalline 3 -[ n -( p - chlorobenzyl )- 3 -( t - butylthio )- 5 -( quinolin - 2 - ylmethoxy ) indol - 2 - yl ]- 2 , 2 - dimethylpropanoic acid , sodium salt , ( 25 g ) was dissolved in etoh ( 2 . 75 l ) at 20 ° c . water ( 1 l ) was added thereto and then the volume was reduced to 0 . 5 l in a rotary evaporator . the remaining solution was lyophilized in a virtis 10 src lyophilization chamber at - 42 ° c . to yield the title compound . crystalline 3 -[ n -( p - chlorobenzyl )- 3 -( t - butylthio )- 5 -( quinolin - 2 - ylmethoxy ) indol - 2 - yl ]- 2 , 2 - dimethylpropanoic acid , sodium salt , ( 6 g ) was dissolved in etoh ( 240 mi ) and h 2 o ( 1 l ) preheated to about 90 ° c ., and then the volume was reduced to 0 . 9 l in a rotary evaporator . the remaining solution was lyophilized in a virtis 10 src lyophilization chamber at - 42 ° c . to yield the title compound . a 50 l 3 - necked flask carrying a thermometer probe was fitted with a mechanical stirrer , a nitrogen inlet through the top of a reflux condenser , and a downward condensor with a receiving flask and placed in a steam mantle . the flask was charged with 22 l of h 2 o , 2 l of absolute etoh , and 1099 g of the crystalline form of the title compound . after addition of a further 3 l of absolute etoh , the mixture was stirred at 81 °- 82 ° c . until a clear solution was obtained . ( about 20 min .). the - receiving flask was cooled in dry ice and a vacuum of - 100 kpa was applied to the stirred solution through the receiving flask . steam heating was continued in order to maintain the temperature at 17 ° c . evaporation was continued until the solution started to become cloudy ( about 2 hr .). the mixture was vacuum filtered through a sintered glass funnel , and the filtrate ( 17 . 5 l ) was divided among 6 lyophilization trays ( 18 . 25 × 23 . 75 in .). the trays were placed in the cold lyophilization chamber ( virtis ) and 2 . 5 hr . later , with the shelf temperature at - 55 ° c ., the vacuum was turned on . ______________________________________lapsed time ( hr .) shelf temp . (° c . ) ______________________________________0 - 55 ° 4 - 25 ° 17 . 5 - 15 ° 66 . 5 0 ° 98 . 5 25 ° 114 . 5 30 ° 140 . 5 30 ° ______________________________________ crystalline 3 -[ n -( p - chlorobenzyl )- 3 -( t - butylthio )- 5 -( quinolin - 2 - ylmethoxy ) indol - 2 - yl ]- 2 , 2 - dimethylpropanoic acid , sodium salt ( 15 g ) was dissolved in 360 ml of 20 % ethanol / water by heating at reflux for 30 mins . the solution was cooled to 40 °- 50 ° c . and fed uniformly over 30 minutes to a buchi model 190 mini spray drier to yield 8 g of product . drying was at inlet and outlet air temepratures of 150 ° c . and 104 ° c ., respectively . the dried product was amorphous by x - ray diffraction and contained 1 . 4 % water by karl fischer and 0 . 01 % ethanol by gas chromatography analyses . solubility was measured by stirring 100 mg / ml in water ( 10 mi ) of amorphous l - 708 at room temperature . at 48 hrs . 1 ml of the suspension was drawn and centrifuged . the supernatant was diluted and content of amorphous l - 708 was measured by both u . v . spectrophotometry and by hplc . this gave a concentration of 55 mg / ml . 58 l h 2 o was heated to 81 ° c ., then 15 l etoh and 3249 g of the crystalline form of the title compound were added . when the solution became clear ( 75 ° c . ), it was cooled to ambient and the etoh was distilled under approximately 25 mm vacuum . the temperature ranged from 18 °- 21 ° c . distillation was continued until a 32 l slurry remained ( approximately 100 mg / ml ). the slurry was divided among 6 trays of a virtis freeze dryer and frozen overnight at 70 ° c . then the vacuum was turned on to 30 μm , following which the shelf was warmed to 15 ° c . and held at that temperature for 46 hours . the shelf was warmed to 30 ° c . over 2 hours and held there for 18 . 5 hours . the residual ethanol by 1 h nmr was 0 . 9 %. the trays were then heated to 65 ° c . for 19 hours in a hull vacuum dryer and yielded the freeze - dried title product ; 3161 g . residual ethanol by 1 h nmr was 0 . 6 %.