General procedure for the synthesis of 2-bromo-5,6-dihydrothieno[2,3-c]pyridin-7(4H)-ones from 5,6-dihydrothieno[2,3-c]pyridin-7(4H)-ones: 5,6-dihydro-4H-thieno[2,3-c]pyridin-7-one (4.80 g, 31.37 mmol) was dissolved in acetic acid (40 mL) and water (30 mL ) in a solvent mixture. After cooling the reaction mixture to 0°C, bromine (1.8 mL, 34.51 mmol) was added slowly and dropwise. The reaction was continuously stirred at 0°C for 1 hour. After completion of the reaction, the reaction mixture was diluted with 100 mL of water and extracted with ethyl acetate (3 x 100 mL). The organic layers were combined, washed sequentially with 5% sodium sulfite solution (2 × 50 mL) and saturated sodium bicarbonate solution (2 × 100 mL), dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, filtered and concentrated to afford 6.20 g (85% yield) of the target product 2-bromo-5,6-dihydrothieno[2,3-c]pyridin-7(4H)-one. Mass spectral analysis (MS/ESI) m/z (81Br) 233.9 [M+H]+.