Regioselective synthesis of pentacyclic heterocycles by sequential [3,3] sigmatropic rearrangement of 2-(4′-aryloxybut-2′-ynyl-mercapto)thiochromen-4-ones

A number of 4-aryloxymethyl-7-chlorothiopyrano[2,3-b]thiochromen-5(2H)-ones are regioselectively synthesized in 80–85% yield by the Claisen rearrangement of 2-(4′-aryloxybut-2′-ynylmercapto)thiochromen-4-ones in refluxing chlorobenzene for 3 h. These products are then subjected to a second Claisen rearrangement in refluxing N,N-diethylaniline for 6 h to give hitherto unreported pentacyclic heterocycles in 50–55% yield.