To a mixture of 5-bromo-2-fluorobenzoic acid (3 g, 13.2 mmol, 1.0 eq) and 3-fluorophenyl boronic acid (2.1 g, 15.1 mmol, 1.1 eq) in water (15 mL), EtOH (15 mL) and DMF (60 mL) was added Na2CO3 (5.81 g, 54.8 mmol, 4.1 eq) and Pd(PPh3)4 (1.58 g, 1.37 mmol, 0.1 eq). The reaction mixture was heated at 100° C. under nitrogen for 4 h, then cooled to room temperature. The resulting mixture was poured into water and extracted with ethyl acetate. The organic extracts were combined, dried (Na2SO4), filtered and evaporated in vacuo to give the title compound as a white powder (3 g, 97%).
