A mixture of methyl 2-(4-chloro-5-iodo-2-methoxyphenylamino)acetate (5.0 g, 14.08 mmol), 2,5-dichlorophenylboronic acid (4.03 g, 21.12 mmol), Pd(PPh3)4 (1.626 g, 1.04 mmol), Na2CO3 (4.477 g, 42.24 mmol) in 1,4-dioxane (100 mL) and water (20 mL) was stirred at reflux under argon for 6 h. Then reaction mixture was allowed to cool to room temperature, quenched with water and acidified with HCl (10% in water) to adjust the pH to 3-4. The mixture was extracted with ethyl acetate, washed with brine, dried over Na2SO4 and concentrated in vacuo. The residue was purified by flash column chromatography on silica gel (50% petroleum ether/ethyl acetate) to afford the desired product (3 g, 59% yield) as an off-white solid. ESI-MS m/z: 360.2 [M−H]−.
