A mixture of 5-bromo-7-chloro-2-(4-chloro-benzyl)-2,3-dihydro-isoindol-1-one (0.110 g, 0.298 mmol), palladium(II) acetate (0.004 g, 0.02 mmol), rac-2-(di-t-butylphosphino)-1,1′-binaphthyl (0.009 g, 0.025 mmol), and cesium carbonate (0.163 g, 0.5 mmol) in toluene (5 mL) was treated with 2,2,2-trifluoro ethanol (0.061 mL, 0.6 mmol) and stirred at 110° C. for 12 h. After this time the solvent was evaporated and silica gel column chromatography using, typically 30% ethyl acetate in hexane, afforded the desired product (0.040 g, 34%). 1H NMR (300 MHz, CDCl3): δ (ppm) 4.19 (s, 2H), 4.39 (q, 2H), 4.73 (s, 2H), 6.86 (s, 1H), 6.98 (s, 1H), 7.23 (d, 2H), 7.34 (d, 2H). GC-MS: m/z 389 (M)+0.354, (M−35)+.
