Na2CO3 (0.53 g, 5.00 mmol), followed by pyridin-4-ylboronic acid (0.34 g, 2.75 mmol) and Pd(Ph3P)4 (0.144 g, 0.125 mmol) were added to a mixture of benzyl 2-(benzyloxy)-5-bromobenzoate (may be prepared as described in Description 4; 1.0 g, 2.50 mmol) in 1,4-dioxane (25 ml) and water (5 ml) under nitrogen. After addition, the mixture was stirred at 90° C. for 4 hours. The reaction mixture was evaporated to give brown crude product, which was purified by chromatography (silica gel, 40 g, eluent: ethyl acetate/petroleum ether=1:2, 1.2 L) to yield the title compound as a white solid. 0.81 g.
