Aldehyde/ketone-catalyzed highly selective synthesis of 9-monoalkylated fluorenes by dehydrative C-alkylation with primary and secondary alcohols†
Jianhui Chen,Yang Li,Shuangyan Li,Jianping Liu,Fei Zheng,Zhengping Zhang
Green Chemistry Pub Date : 11/14/2016 00:00:00 , DOI:10.1039/C6GC02518H
Abstract

By using aldehydes or ketones as the catalyst and screening CsOH out as the more effective base than KOH in many instances, an efficient 9-C-alkylation of fluorenes with alcohols was achieved to provide a green and practical method for general synthesis of the useful 9-monoalkylated fluorenes in high selectivities. This new method tolerates a wide range of substrates including activated and unactivated primary and secondary alcohols, thus solving the issues remaining in the field and largely broadening the diversity of the 9-monoalkylated fluorenes. Consequently, fine-tuning of the alkylated fluorenes was made possible to provide specific fluorene monomers for function-oriented polyfluorenes. Preliminary mechanistic studies revealed that the external carbonyl compounds can be quantitatively regenerated and recovered in the reaction cycle.

Graphical abstract: Aldehyde/ketone-catalyzed highly selective synthesis of 9-monoalkylated fluorenes by dehydrative C-alkylation with primary and secondary alcohols