To a microwave reaction vial was added 3-benzyloxy-5-trifluoromethanesulfonyloxybenzoic acid methyl ester (70 mg, 0.179 mmol), lithium chloride (23 mg, 0.537 mmol), Pd(PPh3)4 (10 mg, 0.009 mmol) and 3 ml of THF. Isobutylzinc bromide (0.5 M in THF) (0.537 mL, 0.269 mmol) was added and the vial sealed. After heating in microwave reactor at 130° for 5 min the reaction mixture was adsorbed onto silica gel and purified by silica gel chromatography using an ethyl acetate-hexane gradient to afford 36 mg (68%) of 3-benzyloxy-5-isobutylbenzoic acid methyl ester. 1H NMR (300 MHz, DMSO-d6) δ 0.850 (d, 6H, J=6 Hz), 1.78-1.92 (m, 1H), 3.84 (s, 3H), 5.16 (s, 2H), 7.11 (d, 1H, J=2 Hz), 7.33-7.48 (m, 7H).
