Several drug candidates in development contain a core structure of a substituted dihydrobenzofuran. 1 A common intermediate in the synthesis of these drugs is 4-vinyl-2,3-dihydrobenzofuran . This compound could be prepared from the 4-halo-2,3-dihydrobenzofuran by known chemistry, such as palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions of aryl halides, eg the 'Stille' reaction and the 'Suzuki' reaction, or nickel-catalyzed Grignard cross-coupling ...