... by palladium-catalyzed cross coupling to yield the nitriles 3i, 4i, 5i as described by Almansa et al. ... 22 A novel synthetic pathway was pursued for the synthesis of the ketone 6i: 23 a Friedel−Crafts ... in the Wittig reaction with K 2 CO 3 as base (Scheme 4) to form the intermediates ...