A mixture of palladium acetate (0.004 g; 0.017 mmol) and 2′-(dicyclohexylphosphino)-N,N-dimethylbiphenyl-2-amine (0.028 g; 0.071 mmol) in dioxane (0.5 mL) was degassed and sonicated for 30 minutes. This solution was then added to a degassed mixture of sodium 2-methylpropan-2-olate (0.024 g; 0.248 mmol), morpholine (0.031 mL; 0.354 mmol) and N-(2-(5-bromo-1H-indol-3-yl)ethyl)-4-(3-fluorobenzyl)benzamide (0.080 g; 0.177 mmol) in dioxane (2 mL). The resulting mixture was stirred at 100° C. for 18 hours and evaporated to dryness. The residue was partitioned between water and ethyl acetate and the organic layer was dried and concentrated under reduced pressure. The crude material was purified twice by flash chromatography on silica gel (eluent 65 to 100% ethyl acetate in heptane and 20 to 100% ethyl acetate in dichloromethane) and by preparative HPLC (method 2) to afford 0.0052 g (6%) of the title compound as a white solid.
