5-Bromo-N-tert-butyl-4-(methylthio)pyrimidin-2-amine (3400 mg, 12.31 mmol), zinc dust (201 mg, 3.08 mmol), zinc cyanide (940 mg, 8.00 mmol), 1,1′-bis-(diphenylphosphino)-ferrocene (552 mg, 0.985 mmol), tris(dibenzylideneacetone)dipalladium(0) (564 mg, 0.616 mmol), and DMF (20.5 mL) were combined and heated at 90° C. overnight under nitrogen. The reaction mixture was diluted with 125 mL ethyl acetate and 50 mL of water and then filtered through a pad of Celite. The layers of filtrate were separated and the aqueous layer was extracted with 75 mL ethyl acetate. The combined ethyl acetate layers were washed with 2×50 mL brine, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered and concentrated to an oil under reduced pressure. The crude oil was purified by silica gel chromatography (0-30% ethyl acetate/hexane) to afford 2-(tert-butylamino)-4-(methylthio)pyrimidine-5-carbonitrile (2.26 g, 10.17 mmol, 83% yield). 1H NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d6) δ ppm 8.37-8.51 (m, 1H), 7.85-8.10 (m, 1H), 2.53-2.62 (m, 3H), 1.41 (s, 9H). MS (ESI) m/z 223.1 [M+1]+.
