Uniformly mixed were 3.0 parts of 4-bromobiphenyl, 1.7 parts of thiophenol, 2.5 parts of sodium tert-butoxide, 0.15 parts of tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium, and 64.3 parts of 1-butanol, and allowed to react at 120° C. for 2 hours. The reaction solution was cooled to room temperature (about 25° C.) and then filtered. The filtrate was transferred to a rotary evaporator, and the solvent was removed by distillation, so that a red-brown, crystalline product was obtained. The product was dissolved in 70 parts of dichloromethane, and 50 parts of an aqueous saturated sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was added thereto. After washing three times by liquid-liquid separation, the dichloromethane layer was washed with 70 parts of distilled water until the pH became neutral. The dichloromethane layer was transferred to a rotary evaporator, and the solvent was removed by distillation, so that a brown, crystalline product was obtained. Twenty parts of hexane was added thereto, and the product was dispersed in hexane using an ultrasonic cleaner. The operation of standing for about 15 minutes and then removing the supernatant was repeated three times to wash the resulting solid, and the solvent was removed with a rotary evaporator, so that brown crystalline 4-(phenylthio)biphenyl was obtained in a yield of 84%. The product was identified by 1H-NMR {d6-dimethylsulfoxide, δ (ppm) 7.6-7.7 (4H, m), 7.3-7.5 (10H, m)}.
