A slurry of 3.23 g (10 mmol) of 2-[4-[2-(1-pyrrolidinyl)ethoxy)phenyl]benzo[b]thiophene in 50 mL of 1,2′dichloroethane was treated with 1.76 g (10 mmol) of 3,4-difluorobenzoyl chloride at 0° C. The mixture was protected from light and 4.4 mL (40 mmol) TiCl4 was added dropwise. The reaction was stirred at 0° C. for 5 h at which time it was quenched by carefully pouring it into 400 mL of saturated aqueous NaHCO3. To this was added EtOAc (200 mL), and the two layers were separated. The aqueous layer was extracted with EtOAc (2×50 mL). The combined organic layers were dried over Na2SO4 and evaporated in vacuo to give a crude oil which was purified by chromatography (SiO2; 2% MeOH in CHCl3) to afford 1.7 g (3.7 mmol; 37%) of the ketone as a viscous oil.
