In a pressure sealed flask a suspension of 3-bromo-2-methyl-5,6-dihydro-4H-pyrrolo[1,2-b]pyrazole (1.01 g, 5.0 mmol), 4-cyano-3-(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-[1,3,2]dioxaborolan-2-yl)-benzoic acid methyl ester (1.8 g, 6.25 mmol), and K3PO4 (2.65 g, 12.5 mmol) in dioxane (50 mL) was degassed by bubbling N2 for 30 m at room temperature. After the addition of tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium (0.58 g, 0.5 mmol) the reaction flask was sealed and the contents heated to 95° C. for 5 h. After cooling the reaction mixture was diluted several fold with EtOAc, and washed with dilute aqueous NaHCO3 followed by brine. The organic layer was dried over Na2SO4, filtered and concentrated. The crude product was purified over normal phase silica starting with 100% DCM for 5 m and then increasing to 10% MeOH in DCM over 25 m to give the desired product as a yellow solid (0.70 g, 2.49 mmol). MS m/z 282.5 (M+H)+.
