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 tri-o-tolylphosphine (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).
