In a 40 mL vial 120 mg (0.40 mmol) 1-benzyl-4-bromo-isoquinoline (see above), 160 mg (0.84 mmol) 6-piperazin-1-yl-nicotinonitrile, 40 mg (0.04 mmol) tris(dibenzylideneaceton)dipalladium(0), and 60 mg (±)-(1,1′-binaphthalene-2-2′diyl)bis(diphenylphosphine) are added to 5 mL dioxane. After flushing the vial with nitrogen for 5 min, the reaction mixture is stirred for 2 min followed by the addition of 150 mg (1.55 mmol) sodium tert-butoxide. After flushing with nitrogen for 5 min, the vial is sealed and heated at 80° C. for 12 h. After cooling, the mixture is loaded onto a silica column directly and purified. The eluent containing the correct mass is concentrated in vacuo and the resulting residue is purified by reversed phase HPLC using a Varian Prostar system equipped with a Waters xTerra column (50×100 mm) and a solvent gradient of 0.1% NH3 in water/0.1% NH3 in acetonitrile (0→100%). Pure fractions are pooled and evaporated to give 40 mg (0.10 mmol, 25% yield) of the title compound.
