Group 5 and group 6 metal halides as very efficient catalysts for acylative cleavage of ethers

Group 5 and 6 metal chlorides such as MoCl5, WCl6, NbCl5 and TaCl5 were found as very efficient catalysts for acylative cleavage of the C–O bond of ethers. Compared with conventional Lewis acid catalysts such as ZnCl2, AlCl3, SnCl4 and TiCl4, group 5 and 6 metal chlorides showed better results in the catalytic C–O bond cleavage of dibutyl ether with benzoyl chloride.