Ethyl-3-(4-amino-2-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)-2,2-dimethylpropanoate (200 mg, 0.691 mmol) was added to a solution of 2-(4-bromo-2-fluorophenyl)acetic acid (161 mg, 0.691 mmol), HATU (315 mg, 0.830 mmol) and TEA (0.482 mL, 3.46 mmol) in DCM (5 mL). The reaction mixture was stirred at rt for 2 h, and then the solution was distributed between DCM and H2O. The combined organic extract was dried over MgSO4, filtered and concentrated. The crude product was purified by preparative TLC (DCM, Rf=0.5) to yield a light yellow oil of ethyl 3-(4-(2-(4-bromo-2-fluorophenyl)acetamido)-2-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)-2,2-dimethylpropanoate (320 mg, 0.571 mmol, 83.0% yield): 1H NMR (400 MHz, MeOH-d4) δ 7.94 (d, J=1.54 Hz, 1H), 7.68 (d, J=8.38 Hz, 1H), 7.27-7.36 (m, 2H), 7.22 (d, J=8.38 Hz, 1H), 6.90-6.97 (m, 1H), 4.09-4.18 (m, 2H), 3.74 (s, 2H), 3.07 (s, 2H), 1.20-1.25 (m, 3H), 1.15 (s, 6H); ES-LCMS m/z 504 (M+H).
