2-Vinyl-5-[(2-fluorophenyl)sulfonyl]pyridine (Step 1, 50 mg, 0.19 mmol), 2-fluoroiodobenzene (46 mg, 0.207 mmol), palladium(II) acetate (2 mg, 0.01 mmol) and tri-o-tolylphosphine (12 mg, 0.039 mmol) were taken up in acetonitrile/triethylamine (0.5 mL/0.5 mL) and the reaction heated to 170° C. for 20 minutes in a Smith synthesiser microwave reactor. The reaction was diluted with ethyl acetate and washed with saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution. The organic layers were dried over MgSO4 and concentrated in vacuo. The residue was purified by mass-triggered preparative HPLC (Nebula) to give the title compound as a beige solid (39 mg, 57%). δH (500 MHz, d6 DMSO): 9.03 (1H, d, J=2.2 Hz), 8.28 (1H, dd, J=1.6, 8.3 Hz), 8.05 (1H, td, J=7.6, 1.6 Hz), 7.92 (1H, d, J=16.1 Hz), 7.84 (1H, td, J=8.0, 1.4 Hz), 7.80–7.74 (2H, m), 7.47 (1H, d, J=16.1 Hz), 7.47 (1H, d, =0.7 Hz), 7.42–7.36 (2H, m), 7.27–7.21 (2H, m); m/z (ES+) 358 [MH+].
