A mixture of 4-bromo-3-methyl-phenol (460 mg, 2.01 mmol), [4-(E-3-methoxy-3-oxo-1-propen-1-yl)phenyl]boronic acid (486 mg, 2.21 mmol), tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(0) (232 mg, 0.201 mmol) cesium carbonate (1.31 g, 4.02 mmol) and DMF (4.8 mL) is heated to 80° C. for 4.5 hours. The reaction is cooled to room temperature and diluted with water and acidified with 1 N HCl. The resulting solution is extracted with ether. The combined organic layers are dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate and are purified via flash chromatography eluting with 15% ethyl acetate/heptane to give the title compound (108 mg, 20%). ES/MS m/e 267.3 (M−1).
