(4-Benzyloxy-3-fluorophenyl)boronic acid (1.06 g, 4.22 mmol) was added to a suspension of 2,5-dibromopyridine (1.0 g, 4.22 mmol) in toluene (8 mL), followed by addition of 2M Na2CO3 (6 mL) and Pd(PPh3)4 (0.15 g, 0.13 mmol) and EtOH (2 mL). The reaction mixture was degassed with N2 and heated at 90° C. overnight. The mixture was cooled to ambient temperature, water was added, and the mixture was extracted with EtOAc. The combined organic extract was washed with brine, dried over Na2SO4, filtered through a pad of silica gel, and the filtrate was concentrated to give a solid, which was recrystallized from MeOH to give 1.16 g (77%) of 5-bromo-2-{3-fluoro-4-[(phenylmethyl)oxy]phenyl}pyridine as a faint yellow solid. 1H NMR (400 MHz, CDCl3): δ 8.69 (d, 1H, J=2.2 Hz), 7.85 (dd, 1H, Ja=8.4 Hz, Jb=2.1 Hz), 7.77 (dd, 1H, Ja=12.4 Hz, Jb=2.1 Hz), 7.67 (d, 1H, J=8.6 Hz), 7.54 (d, 1H, J=8.5 Hz), 7.50-7.30 (m, 5H), 7.07 (t, 1H, J=8.4 Hz), 5.20 (s, 2H); LRMS (ESI), m/z 358/360 (M+H).
