Direct Synthesis of Indanes via Iron‐Catalyzed Dehydrative Coupling/Friedel–Crafts Cyclization of Two Different Alcohols

Abstract

We report herein a novel iron‐catalyzed cascade dehydrative coupling/Friedel–Crafts cyclization of two different alcohols, providing a variety of indanes, which are ubiquitous substructures found in natural products, pharmaceuticals, and functional materials. Importantly, the developed approach is highly atom‐economic and environmentally benign, as it employs readily available alcohols as substrates and generates water as the only byproduct.

An Iron-Based Dehydration Catalyst for Selective Formation of Styrene

“…This is a reason why simple iron­(III) salts are typically used in relatively high loadings in catalysis, ranging from 5 to 15 mol % . Since iron­(III) ions are also known to activate vinyl systems, their use in the selective formation of 2 is less favorable . Iron­(II) chloride and triflate are less Lewis-acidic but are also considerably less soluble in organic media .…”