A mixture of tert-butyl 2-(4-(6-bromo-1-oxoisoindolin-2-yl)phenyl)propanoate (0.200 g, 0.48 mmol), cis-1-propene-1-boronic acid (0.413 g, 4.8 mmol), tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(0) (0.554 g, 0.48 mmol), and cesium carbonate (0.470 g, 1.44 mmol) in 5:2 DME/water (7 mL) was heated in a microwave reactor for 20 min at 120° C. The mixture was cooled to room temperature, then diluted with ethyl acetate (8 mL). The reaction mixture was concentrated and purified by flash chromatography (silica, gradient 1-20%, ethyl acetate/hexanes) afforded tert-butyl 2-(4-(1-oxo-6-(prop-1-enyl)isoindolin-2-yl)phenyl)propanoate (0.144 g, 77%) as a yellow solid: mp 125-130° C.; 1H NMR (500 MHz, CDCl3) δ 7.96-7.80 (m, 2H), 7.75-7.65 (m, 1H), 7.54-7.34 (m, 4H), 6.53-6.33 (m, 1H), 5.93-5.87 (m, 1H), 4.84-4.80 (m, 2H), 3.66-3.60 (m, 1H), 1.94-1.91 (m, 3H), 1.47-1.45 (m, 3H), 1.41 (s, 9H) [6:4 mixture of olefin isomers determined by NMR]; ESI MS m/z 378 [M+H]+.
