Under argon and dry conditions, 13.3 g (42.73 mmol) of tert-butyl 1-(3-bromobenzyl)-cyclopropanecarboxylate, 5.6 ml (51.28 mmol) of benzylamine, 1.96 g (2.14 mmol) of tris-(dibenzylideneacetone)dipalladium, 4.93 g (51.28 mmol) of sodium tert-butoxide and 1.06 g (1.71 mmol) of (+/−)-2,2′-bis(diphenylphosphino)-1,1′-binaphthyl were suspended in 50 ml of toluene. The reaction mixture was stirred at 110° C. for 1.5 h. The mixture was then filtered off with suction through kieselguhr, the residue was washed with toluene and the filtrate was concentrated. The residue of the filtrate was taken up in ethyl acetate and extracted twice with ammonium chloride solution. The organic phase was dried over magnesium sulfate and concentrated under reduced pressure. The crude product was purified by chromatography on silica gel (mobile phase cyclohexane/ethyl acetate 20:1). This gave 6.98 g (48.4% of theory) of the title compound.
