4′-Chloro-3,5-diethylbiphen-4-ylboronic acid (2.1 g, 0.007 mol) is added to a mixture of lead tetraacetate (3.67 g, 0.008 mol) and mercuric acetate (0.12 g, 5 mol %) in chloroform (15 ml) and the reaction mixture is stirred for 15 minutes at room temperature under an atmosphere of nitrogen, then stirred and heated at 40° C. for 4 hours. The reaction mixture is cooled to ambient temperature, filtered through a plug of diatomaceous earth and concentrated under reduced pressure to give an orange solid. Trituration with hexane (20 ml) affords a yellow solid which is dried under high vacuum. The solid is dissolved in chloroform (50 ml) and anhydrous potassium carbonate (11.6 g, 0.084 mol) is added. The suspension is stirred rapidly for 10 minutes, then filtered through plug of diatomaceous earth. The filtrate is concentrated under reduced pressure to give 4′-chloro-3,5-diethylbiphen-4-yllead triacetate (2.0 g) as a cream solid.
