Developing mild and effective synthetic strategies for
producing
significant molecules starting from readily available starting materials
is indispensable in organic synthesis. Herein, we present a triflic
acid-driven dual cyclization pathway to produce functionalized indeno[2,1-c]chromen-6(7H)-ones from simple 2-formyl
(or 2-acyl) cinnamate esters and phenols. Notably, this protocol enabled
the construction of two C–C bonds and one C–O bond under
metal-free reaction conditions via the activation
of the unreactive ester moiety in a single pot. The isolation of intermediate
indenol-ester might suggest self-intramolecular cycloaddition by the
proximate double bond of the enoate ester with the o-carbonyl moiety, followed by an electrophilic attack with phenol
and a subsequent cyclocondensation pathway. In addition, the photophysical
properties have also been examined.