Solid aluminum trichloride (0.68 mL, 5.1 mmol) was added to a solution of tert-butyl 4-(4-chlorophenyl)-4-hydroxypiperidine-1-carboxylate (0.40 g, 1.3 mmol) in bromobenzene (5.4 mL, 51.3 mmol) at 0° C. under nitrogen. After being stirred at 0° C. for 4 hours, the mixture was quenched with ice and concentrated under reduced pressure. The mixture was dissolved in 1N LiOH (30 mL) and extracted with EtOAc (2×30 mL). The combined organics were dried with Na2SO4, filtered and concentrated. The crude product was directly taken up in EtOAc (4 mL) and aqueous Na2CO3 solution (2M, 4 mL). Di-tert-butyldicarbonate (0.851 g, 3.9 mmol) was added in one portion. The mixture was stirred at 23° C. overnight. The next day, two layers were separated, and the aqueous layer was further extracted with EtOAc (2×10 mL). The combined organics were dried over Na2SO4, concentrated, and purified by column chromatography (0-40% EtOAc/hexanes) to give tert-butyl 4-(4-bromophenyl)-4-(4-chlorophenyl)piperidine-1-carboxylate (0.302 g, 51% yield). 1H NMR (CDCl3, 400 MHz) δ 7.46 (d, J=7.2 Hz, 2H), 7.32 (d, J=6.9 Hz, 2H), 7.19 (d, J=7.0 Hz, 2H), 7.12 (d, J=7.3 Hz, 2H), 3.54 (br s, 2H), 2.35 (br s, 2H), 1.54 (br s, 2H), 1.43 (s, 11H). LCMS: M+1 452.2.
