3-(4-Bromo-2-trifluoromethyl-phenylsulfanyl)-propionamide (300 g, 914 mmol) was dissolved in N,N-dimethylformamide (3.0 L) and potassium carbonate (300 g, 2.17 mol). Then, 2-methylpyridine-4-boronic acid pinacol ester (285 g, 1.3 mol) and water (240 mL) were added. The solution was degassed and [1,1′-bis(diphenylphosphino)ferrocene]dichloropalladium(II) (30 g, 41 mmol) was added. The mixture was stirred for 20 h at 50° C. After cooling to room temperature, it was poured onto ice cold water (5° C., 5 L) and extracted with ethyl acetate (1×3.5 L, 2×1.5 L). The combined organic extracts were washed with brine/water (1:1 v/v, 750 mL) and brine (750 mL), before methanol (600 mL) was added and the mixture was dried over sodium sulfate. Silica gel (400 g) was added, the slurry was filtered and washed with ethyl acetate/methanol (9:1 v/v, 1.5 L). The combined filtrates were concentrated in vacuo. The residue was suspended in toluene (600 mL) and n-heptane (300 mL) and stirred for 5 min at 60° C. and for 1 h at room temperature. The precipitate was filtered off, washed with toluene/n-heptane (4:1 v/v, 300 mL) and n-heptane (300 mL), and dried in vacuo to afford 230.3 g of brown crystalline material. The crystals were further purified by trituration in isopropanol/heptane (1:1 v/v, 600 mL) for 30 min at room temperature and 30 min at 0-4° C. (ice bath). The precipitate was filtered off, washed with n-heptane/isopropanol (4:1 v/v, 300 mL), and dried in vacuo at 65° C. to yield the title compound as a light brown crystalline solid (215.7 g, 69%). MS (EI): m/z=341.1 [M+H]. 1H NMR (d6-DMSO, 400 MHz): δ 2.48 (t, J=7.2 Hz, 2H), 2.54 (s, 3H), 3.32 (t, J=7.2 Hz, 2H), 6.95 (bs, 1H), 7.41 (bs, 1H), 7.58 (dd, J=1.6 Hz, 5.4 Hz, 1H), 7.68 (s, 1H), 7.77 (d, J=9.1 Hz, 1H), 8.02-8.08 (m, 2H), 8.52 (d, J=5.1 Hz, 1H).
