A synthetic preparation of methyl 5-chloro-4-fluoro-1 H-indole-2-carboxylate, a key intermediate towards phosphoindole inhibitors of HIV non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase, is described. The five-step synthesis involved Boc protection of the commercially available 4- chloro-3-fluoroaniline and regioselective iodination at C-2. After facile Boc deprotection, cyclization of the resultant o-iodoaniline gave the corresponding 5-chloro-4-fluoro-indole- ...