The application discloses a new method for preparing a lumacaftor intermediate. The method uses 5-bromo-6-chloropyridin-2-amine as a starting material, methyl
boronic acid,
palladium acetate and a ligand L1 to obtain a
methylation product. Then, the
methylation product is subjected to a Suzuki
coupling reaction with m-tert-butoxycarbonyl phenyl
boronic acid under the
catalysis of
tris(
dibenzylideneacetone)dipalladium and a ligand L2 to synthesize 3-(6-amino-3-methylpyridin-2-yl)
benzoic acid tert-butyl ester. The method can synthesize 3-(6-amino-3-methylpyridin-2-yl)
benzoic acid tert-butyl ester at a high yield, and the method uses a small amount of catalyst, has mild
reaction conditions and is easy to separate, so that the method is beneficial to industrial implementation and application promotion.