Ethyl 4-iodobenzoate (5.5 g), tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium (1.2 g), and cesium carbonate (9.8 g) were added to an ethanol (0.10 L) solution of 2-[4-(methoxymethyl)phenyl]-4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaborolane (4.1 g), as obtained in Example 3-(1). The mixture was stirred for 30 minutes at 80° C., and then the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure. The resulting residue was purified by OH type silica gel chromatography (hexane/ethyl acetate=85/15) to obtain ethyl 4′-(methoxymethyl)biphenyl-4-carboxylate (light yellow solid) (3.5 g, 80%).
