A mixture of 5-bromoindole-2-carboxylic acid ethyl ester (4.22 g, 16 mmol), 4-trifluoromethylphenylboronic acid (4.50 g, 24 mmol), K3PO4 (11.7 g, 55 mmol), Pd(OAc)2 (176 mg, 0.78 mmol), tri-o-tolylphosphine (478 mg, 1.6 mmol), EtOH (20 mL) and toluene (90 mL) was stirred under argon for 20 min at rt, heated at 100° C. for 2 h, cooled and poured into NaHCO3 (aq, sat). The mixture was extracted with EtOAc and the combined extracts were washed with H2O and brine, dried (Na2SO4), concentrated and purified by chromatography to give the sub-title compound. Yield 3.91 g (75%).
