4-Methoxyphenylboronic acid (3.00 g, 19.7 mmol) and 4-chloro-3-nitroanisole (3.69 g, 11.6 mmol) were dissolved in a mixture of dioxane (40 mL) and water (10 mL). K2CO3 (5.44 g, 23.2 mmol) and Pd(PPh3)4 (1.14 g, 0.6 mmol) were added. The reaction mixture was heated in argon to 80° C., kept at this temperature overnight (TLC monitoring: hexane/ethyl acetate, 4:1), cooled, and filtered through Celite. The latter was washed with CH2Cl2, and the filtrate was evaporated. The residue was dissolved in CH2Cl2, and the solution was evaporated to give 6.0 g of crude biphenyl 10h that was cyclized without purification.
