Under a atmosphere of nitrogen, azodicarboxylic dipiperidide (504 mg, 2.0 mmol) was added at 0-5° C. to a stirred solution of tributylphosphine (404 mg, 2.0 mmol), methyl 4-hydroxyphenylacetate (250 mg, 1.5 mmol) and 3,3-bis-(4-bromophenyl)prop-2-en-1-ol (552 mg, 1.5 mmol) in dry THF (10 ml), the mixture stirred for 1 h, filtered and concentrated in vacuo. The crude product was then purified by column chromatography on silica (toluene eluent). The purified product was suspended in petroleum ether, filtered to give 480 mg (62%) of the title compound.
