Synthesis of 1-aryl- benzocycloalkane derivatives via one-pot two-step reaction of benzocyclonone, tosylhydrazide, and arylboronic acid

Abstract

A metal-free one-pot two-step reductive coupling reaction of benzocyclonone, tosylhydrazide, and arylboronic acid was developed for the formation of a C(sp3)-C(sp2) bond, which enabled the efficient synthesis of 1-aryl-benzocycloalkane compounds in moderate to good yields on a multi-gram scale. Moreover, five- and six-membered benzocyclic ketones are also suitable substrates for this reaction. Notably, this protocol was also found to be suitable for synthesizing 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-2,3-dihydro-1H-inden-1-one, an important intermediate in the synthesis of indatraline.