2-(3-bromophenyl)pyridine (4 g, 17.09 mmol), Pd2(dba)3 (0.156 g, 0.171 mmol), dicyclohexyl(2′,6′-dimethoxy-[1,1′-biphenyl]-2-yl)phosphine (S-Phos) (0.281 g, 0.683 mmol), and sodium t-butoxide (2.463 g, 25.6 mmol) were mixed in 100 mL of xylene. The solution was bubbled with nitrogen for 20 min. Aniline (2.387 g, 25.6 mmol) was added. The reaction was heated up to reflux for 6 h. After cooled to rt, dichloromethane was added. The mixture was filtered through Celite®. The solvent was then evaporated. The residue was coated on Celite® and columned with 1:5 hexanes/ethyl acetate to give N-phenyl-3-(pyridin-2-yl)aniline (3.6 g, 14.62 mmol, 86% yield) as light yellow solid.
