To a mixture of 4,6-dichloro-5-(pyridin-4-yl)pyrimidine (1.07 g, 4.8 mmol), 4-chlorophenylboronic acid (740 mg, 4.8 mmol) and tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium (550 mg, 0.48 mmol) in toluene (10 mL) at room temperature under argon was added aqueous Na2CO3 solution (2 M, 5 mL, 10 mmol). The resulting mixture was stirred at 100° C. under argon for 15 h. Analysis by HPLC/MS indicated that the reaction was complete. After the reaction mixture was cooled to room temperature, water (25 mL) was added. The resulting mixture was extracted with EtOAc (2×25 mL). The combined organic layers were dried over Na2SO4, filtered and concentrated under reduced pressure. The residue was purified by silica gel column chromatography eluted with ethyl acetate-hexanes to obtain the title compound (1.12 g, HPLC purity about 92%) as a white solid. 1H NMR (CDCl3): δ7.18 (d, 2H), 7.2-7.3 (m, 4H), 8.66 (d, 2H), 9.07 (s, 1H).
