A mixture of (F1), benzophenone hydrazone (1.8 eq.), ground NaOH (1.4 eq.), Pd(AcO)2 (0.05 eq.) and XPhos (0.1 eq.) in degassed iBuOH (0.18 M) was stirred under argon at RT for 20 min and then was heated at 80° C. for 3 h. After cooling down, evaporation of the solvent gave a residue that was dissolved in DCM and washed with sat. aq. NH4Cl (2×) and sat. aq. NaHCO3 (2×) and dried (Na2SO4). Evaporation of the solvent gave a crude that was purified by flash chromatography column on silica (EtOAc/Petroleum ether 2:98 to 1:4) yielding (90%) the title compound as a yellow foam. 1H NMR (300 MHz, DMSO-d6, 300K) δ 8.68 (1H, s), 7.67-7.49 (3H, m), 7.46-7.39 (2H, m), 7.37-7.25 (10H, m), 7.13 (2H, d, J=8.3 Hz), 7.04 (2H, d, J=8.3 Hz), 3.47 (2H, s), 2.92-2.75 (2H, m), 2.70-2.56 (1H, m), 2.06-1.86 (2H, m), 1.83-1.50 (3H, m), 1.48-1.32 (1H, m). MS (ES+) C31H31N3 required: 445, found: 446 (M+H)+.
