Toluene → 5-(3,5-Difluorobenzyl)-2-fluorobenzonitrile

Participants

Reaction Conditions

Reaction Steps

3-Cyano-4-fluorophenylboronic acid (1.649 g, 10 mmol), powdered potassium phosphate (4.254 g, 20 mmol) and Pd(PPh3)4 (231 mg, 0.2 mmol) were charged in an oven-dried flask under argon atmosphere. The flask was evacuated and back-filled with argon thrice and then toluene (30 mL) and 3,5-difluorobenzyl bromide (1.295 mL, 10 mmol) were added by means of a syringe through a lattice stopper, under good stirring. The reaction mixture was heated to 100° C. in half an hour and maintained at that temperature for 1.5 hours. The black mixture was taken up with diethylether (200 mL), washed with saturated aqueous ammonium chloride (2×20 mL), brine (3×30 mL), dried over sodium sulphate and evaporated to dryness to afford 3.21 g of yellow oil. The crude was purified by flash chromatography on silica gel eluting with n-hexane/ethyl acetate 95:5 to yield 1.89 g (yield 76.4%) of whitish solid.

Provenance & Evidence