A mixture of 3-bromo-phenyl acetic acid tert-butyl ester (5.64 g, 20.80 mmol), N-vinyl phthalimide (3.60 g, 20.80 mmol), diisopropylethylamine (3.63 g, 28.08 mmol), palladium acetate (107 mg, 0.478 mmol), and tritolylphosphine (475 mg, 1.56 mmol) in acetonitrile (10 mL) was stirred at 90° C. for 20 h. The reaction was cooled to room temperature and ice water (50 mL) was added. EtOAc (50 mL) was added and the organic solution was washed with 5.5% HCl followed by brine. The organic solution was dried over MgSO4, filtered, and concentrated. Purification by flash chromatography (hexanes:EtOAc 9:1 to 4:1) provided the title compound (1.95 g). MS 381 (M+18).
