1-Benzyl-4-bromo-5-methyl-1H-pyrazole-3-carbonitrile (3.00 g, 10.9 mmol) was treated with triphenylphosphine (85 mg, 0.32 mmol), 2-[(2,2-dimethylpropanoyl)amino]phenylboronic acid (prepared as described in Part G of Example 23, 2.15 g, 16.3 mmol), 1-propanol (22 mL), palladium (II) acetate (24 mg, 0.11 mmol), aqueous sodium carbonate (6.5 mL of 2 M, 13 mmol), and water (4.4 mL) according to the general procedure described in Example 34. The reaction time was approximately 16 hours and no additional reagents were added. The reaction was allowed to cool to ambient temperature and methyl tert-butyl ether (25 mL) was added. After the mixture was stirred for about 10 minutes, the layers were separated. The organic layer was dried over magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated to yield a brown oil. The crude product was purified by chromatography on a HORIZON HPFC system (silica gel, gradient elution 1-30% ethyl acetate in hexanes). The appropriate fractions were combined, dried over magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated to yield 2.40 g of N-[2-(1-benzyl-3-cyano-5-methyl-1H-pyrazol-4-yl)phenyl]-2,2-dimethylpropanamide as an oil that solidified upon standing at ambient temperature.
