Into a 50-mL round bottom flask purged and maintained with an inert atmosphere of nitrogen, was placed a solution of 4-chloro-2-(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3-dioxolan-2-yl)benzenamine (300 mg, 1.17 mmol, 1.00 equiv) in ethylene glycol dimethyl ether (15 mL), N-(3-(trifluoromethyl)benzyl)-2-bromoisonicotinamide (432 mg, 1.20 mmol, 1.00 equiv), a solution of sodium carbonate (636 mg, 6.00 mmol, 5.00 equiv) in water (3.0 mL), and Pd(PPh3)4 (138 mg, 0.12 mmol, 0.10 equiv). The resulting solution was stirred for 2 h at 85° C. in an oil bath. The resulting mixture was concentrated under vacuum. The resulting solution was diluted with 10 mL of water. The resulting solution was extracted with 3×10 mL of ethyl acetate and the organic layers combined, and washed with brine. The mixture was dried over sodium sulfate and concentrated under vacuum. The residue was applied onto a silica gel column and eluted with petroleum ether/ethyl acetate (10:1-5:1). The product was obtained as 260 mg (55%) of a yellow solid.
