A 4 mL vial with a septum cap and a stirring bar was charged with 4-benzyloxy-3-fluoro-phenylboronic acid (14.8 mg, 0.060 mmol) and Pd(PPh3)4 (5.8 mg, 5 mol %) and was purged briefly with N2. A solution of (6-chloro-5-iodo-1H-benzoimidazol-2-ylsulfanyl)-acetic acid tert-butyl ester (Intermediate 4, 21.4 mg, 0.050 mmol) in toluene (200 uL) was added to the vial, followed by a solution K2CO3 (21.4 mg, 0.050 mmol) in water (100 uL). The resulting mixture was stirred at 80° C. for 14 h. The mixture was allowed to cool down to rt, and was partitioned with EtOAc (1 mL) and 10% aqueous AcOH (1 mL). The organic layer was separated evaporated to dryness in vacuo. LR-MS (API-ES) of the residue confirmed the presence of the title compound: calculated for C26H24ClFN2O3S 498.1, observed m/e 499.0 (M+H)+ (Rt 3.54 min). The crude product was used in the next step without further purification.
