A suspension of 1-(phenylsulfonyl)-3-(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaborolan-2-yl)-1H-pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridine (7.26 g, 18.9 mmol), 2,6-difluoro-4-iodopyridine (4.14 g, 17.2 mmol, Eur. J. Org. Chem., 2004, 1018 and Org. Lett. 2007, 5175), dichlorobis(triphenylphosphine) palladium(II) (0.482 g, 0.687 mmol) and 1M aqueous sodium carbonate (13.7 mL, 13.7 mmol) in dimethoxyethane/ethanol/water (7:2:3) (80 mL) was degassed and heated at 80° C. for 1.5 hours. After cooling, the suspension was filtered, washed with water and ether, and concentrated to give the crude title compound. The filtrate was diluted with water and extracted twice with dichloromethane. The combined organic layers were dried over magnesium sulfate, filtered, concentrated, and purified using an ISCO Companion flash system eluting with dichloromethane/hexane (7:3 to 9:1) to give the title compound. The combined products were used in the next step without further purification.
