To a mixture of 2-bromo-3-(4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl)-2-cyclopenten-1-one (664 mg, 2.11 mmol), 3,5-difluorophenylboronic acid (832 mg, 5.27 mmol), tris(dibenzylideneacetone)dipalladium(0) (83 mg, 0.09 mmol), and triphenylphosphine (96 mg, 0.36 mmol) was added 40 mL of 3:1:1 toluene:n-propanol:water and the mixture was purged with nitrogen. After stirring 10 min, diethylamine (1.1 mL, 10.6 mmol) was added and the solution was heated to reflux for 4 h. The mixture was cooled and partitioned between 1M NaOH and EtOAc. The organic phase was washed with water, 1M HCl and brine, and dried over MgSO4. Purification by silica gel chromatography, eluting with 50% CH2Cl2 /hexanes, followed by crystallization from CH2Cl2 /ether/hexanes gave the title compound (223 mg).
