Improved, Highly Efficient, and Green Synthesis of Bromofluorenones and Nitrofluorenones in Water

Abstract

A series of bromo-, nitro-, and bromonitrofluorenones were synthesized chemo- and regioselectively in 90–98% yield via electrophilic aromatic bromination and nitration under mild conditions using water as the sole solvent. These synthetic methods involve simple workup procedures and use only minimal amounts of organic solvents during the purification of products. The newly developed methods have the advantages of being cost-effective and environmentally friendly and could potentially be used for the large-scale synthesis of fluorenone derivatives.