A mixture of 2,3-dihydro-isoindol-1-one (0.066 g, 0.5 mmol), 2-bromomethyl-4-chloro-benzonitrile (0.116 g, 0.6 mmol), Cs2CO3 (0.408 g, 1.25 mmol), and 18-crown-6 (0.013 g, 0.05 mmol) in acetone (3 mL) was stirred at 70° C. for 16 h. Workup and silica gel column chromatography using 30% ethyl acetate in hexane afforded 5-chloro-2-(1-oxo-1,3-dihydroisoindol-2-ylmethyl)benzonitrile (0.057 g, 41%). 1H NMR (300 MHz, CDCl3): δ (ppm) 4.48 (s, 2H), 5.08 (s, 2H), 7.42-7.65 (m, 611), 7.92 (d, 1H). GC-MS: m/z 282 (M)+.
