A mixture of methyl 6-(adamantan-1-ylmethoxy)-5-chloronicotinate (1.29 g, 3.84 mmol), cyclopropylboronic acid (0.43 g, 4.99 mmol), potassium phosphate (3.26 g, 15.40 mmol), tricyclohexylphosphine tetrafluoroborate (0.14 g, 0.38 mmol) and palladium acetate (0.04 g, 0.19 mmol) in degassed toluene (50 mL) and degassed water (5 mL) was refluxed under nitrogen for 7 h. The reaction mixture was cooled to ambient temperature and diluted with ethyl acetate (100 mL), washed with water (50 mL), saturated ammonium chloride (50 mL) and brine (50 mL); dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, filtered through diatomaceous earth and concentrated in vacuo. The residue was purified by flash chromatography eluting with 5% ethyl acetate in hexanes to afford the title compound as a white solid (1.17 g, 89%); 1H NMR (300 MHz, CDCl3) δ 8.57 (d, J=2.2 Hz, 1H), 7.67 (d, J=2.2 Hz, 1H), 3.95 (s, 2H), 3.85 (s, 3H), 2.09-1.96 (m, 4H), 1.78-1.63 (m, 12H), 0.99-0.91 (m, 2H), 0.72-0.65 (m, 2H); MS (ES+) m/z: 342.22 (M+1).
