To a mixture of 5-bromo-2,3-dimethoxybenzonitrile (0.958 g, 4.0 mmol), 2-furylboronic acid (0.53 g, 4.7 mmol), dioxane (24 mL), H2O (8 mL) and Na2CO3 (1.1 g, 10.4 mmol) was added tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium (0.23 g, 0.2 mmol). The mixture was degassed by alternately putting under house vacuum and argon three times for several minutes each then heated at 85° C. under argon for 16.5 hrs. After cooling to room temperature, the mixture was diluted with H2O and extracted with EtOAc. The combined organics were washed with H2O and brine, dried over Na2SO4 and concentrated in vacuo. Purification by chromatography (0-20% EtOAc-hexanes) provided 5-(furan-2-yl)-2,3-dimethoxybenzonitrile as a white solid (0.85 g, 94% yield).
