A mixture of 3-bromo-5-fluoro-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridine, 133a, (0.97 g, 4.49 mmol) and K2CO3 (1.86 g, 13.47 mmol) in DMF (9.7 mL) was cooled to 0° C. Chlorodiphenylmethylbenzene (1.38 g, 4.94 mmol) was added. The mixture was stirred at room temperature overnight. The mixture was diluted into ethyl acetate (40 mL) and water (30 mL) and the layers were separated. The organic layer was washed with brine, dried over Na2SO4, filtered and concentrated in vacuo. The product was purified by silica gel chromatography (40% ethyl acetate/hexanes) to afford 1.68 g of the desired product as a white solid: 1H NMR (300 MHz, DMSO-d6) δ 8.45-8.38 (m, 1H), 8.04 (dd, J=8.0, 2.7 Hz, 1H), 7.35-7.16 (m, 15H); LCMS Gradient 10-90%, 0.1% formic acid, 5 minutes, C18/ACN, Retention Time=3.03 minutes (M+H) 459.46.
