1-(Bromomethyl)-3-fluorobenzene (0.436 ml) and potassium carbonate (670 mg) were added to an acetonitrile (15 ml) solution containing tert-butyl 4-[(4-hydroxyphenyl)sulfanyl]piperidine-1-carboxylate (1.00 g), followed by heating at 80° C. for 2 hours. The reaction solution was cooled, saturated brine was added thereto, followed by extraction with chloroform. The organic layer was dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, the solvent was evaporated under reduced pressure, and the resulting residue was purified by silica gel column chromatography (eluent: hexane:EtOAc=8:1 (v/v)) to obtain tert-butyl 4-({4-[(3-fluorobenzyl)oxy]phenyl}sulfanyl)piperidine-1-carboxylate (1.50 g) as colorless powder.
