To a solution of 5-bromo-3-(4-fluorophenyl)-1-(tetrahydropyran-2-yl)-1H-indazole (0.50 g, 1.0 mmol) in dried tetrahydrofuran (15 mL) under nitrogen at −78° C. was added dropwise a 1.6 M solution of butyl lithium in hexane (1.1 mL, 1.7 mmol). After stirring for 20 minutes, to the reaction mixture was added phenylacetaldehyde (0.228 g, 1.9 mmol). The reaction mixture was stirred additional 1 hour at −78° C. and the temperature was gradually raised to room temperature. It was quenched with water and extracted with dichloromethane. The extracts were dried over magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated. The residue was then purified by chromatography (SiO2, 15–30% ethyl acetate/hexane) to provide the title compound (0.246 g, 44% yield): 1H NMR (CDCl3) δ 7.86 (m, 2H), 7.80 (d, 1H), 7.09–7.47 (m, 9H), 6.98 (dd, 1H), 5.70 (dd, 1H), 5.07 (dd, (t, 1H), 4.08 (m, 1H), 3.65 (m, 1H), 3.06 (d, 1H), 2.67 (m, 2H), 2.11 (m, 2H), 1.75 (m, 3H); ES-MS (m/z) 417 [M+1]+.
