A mixture of 3-(4-fluoro-3-hydroxyphenyl)-5-nitro-1-trityl-1H-indazole 7AU (1.25 g, 2.42 mmol), K2CO3 (402 mg, 2.91 mmol) and ethylene carbonate (2.6 mL, 24.00 mmol) in DMF (10 mL) was stirred in a sealed tube at 160° C. for 4 h and cooled to rt. H2O was added to quench the reaction. The resulting mixture was extracted with EtOAc, which was washed with H2O, brine, dried (MgSO4) and concentrated to give a yellow oil. Chromatograph on silica gel (4:1, hexanes/EtOAc) gave 3-[4-fluoro-3-(2-hydroxy-ethoxy)-phenyl]-1-trityl-5-nitro-1H-indazole 14AX (1.4 g) as a yellow oil.
