The bromination of 3-ethoxy-2-cyclopenten-1-one (I) with Br2 and triethylamine in chloroform gives the 2-bromo derivative (II), which is condensed with 4-bromothioanisole (III) by means of BuLi in THF yielding 2-bromo-3-[4-(methylsulfanyl)phenyl]-2-cyclopenten-1-one (IV). The oxidation of (IV) with Na2WO4 and H2O2 affords the corresponding sulfone (V), which is finally condensed with lithium diisopropyl 3-pyridylboronate (VII) or the corresponding dimethyl ester (VIII) by means of tris(dibenzylideneacetone)dipalladium (III) (Pd2(dba)3) and triphenylphosphine in toluene/propanol/water. The lithium boronates (VII) and (VIII) have been obtained by reaction of 3-bromopyridine (VI) with triisopropyl borate or trimethyl borate and BuLi in ethyl ether.
The bromination of 3-ethoxy-2-cyclopentenone (XI) gives the 2-bromo derivative (XII), which is condensed with the aryl lithium (V) as before yielding the tertiary alcohol (XIII). Then (XIII) was submitted to an acid rearrangement to provide 2-bromo-3-[4-(sulfanylmethyl)phenyl]-2-cyclopentenone (IX), already obtained in the preceding approaches. The synthetic approaches can also be performed with the arylmagnesium analogue of lithium derivative (V).