A mixture of benzyl 2,4-bis(benzyloxy)-6-bromo-5-hydroxynicotinate (0.23 g, 0.44 mol), 1-methyl-1H-indol-5-ylboronic acid (90 mg, 0.51 mmol), Pd2(dba)3 (20 mg, 0.022 mmol), tri-tert-butylphosphonium tetrafluoroborate (13 mg, 0.044 mmol) and KF (0.26 g, 4.4 mmol) in THF (2.0 mL) was stirred at 60° C. overnight under an Ar atmosphere. The mixture was filtered. The filtrate was evaporated and purified by silica chromatography (2-30% ethyl acetate in hexanes) to give benzyl 2,4-bis(benzyloxy)-5-hydroxy-6-(1-methyl-1H-indol-5-yl)nicotinate (0.24 g, 96%).
