A mixture of methyl 2-hydroxy-4-iodobenzoate (22 g), 2,4-difluorophenylboronic acid (25 g), a 2 M aqueous sodium carbonate solution (119 mL), tris(dibenzylideneacetone)dipalladium(0) (5.07 g), and dicyclohexyl(2′,6′-dimethoxybiphenyl-2-yl)phosphine (4.87 g) in toluene (150 mL) was stirred at 100 C for 2 hours. The reaction mixture was poured to water, and the mixture was filtered through celite. Then, the filtrate was subjected to extraction with ethyl acetate. The obtained organic layer was washed with saturated saline and passed through a basic silica gel, and the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure. Benzyl bromide (10.4 mL) was added at room temperature to a mixture of the obtained residue, potassium carbonate (21.9 g), and DMF (100 mL), and the mixture was stirred at 70 C for 1 hour in a nitrogen atmosphere. Water was added to the reaction mixture at room temperature, followed by extraction with ethyl acetate. The obtained organic layer was washed with water and saturated saline in this order and dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, and then, the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure. The obtained residue was purified by silica gel column chromatography (hexane/ethyl acetate) to obtain the title compound (30.5 g)
