One-pot synthesis of functionalized indenols from 2-bromoalkenyl trifluoromethyl ketones

An elegant one-pot synthesis of indenols was successfully realized starting from 3-aryl-2-bromopropenyl trifluoromethyl ketones and secondary amines. The synthesis proceeds through domino reactions including captodative aminoenones as a key intermediate. When bromoenones having a donor substituent in meta-position of the aromatic ring were subjected to this reaction, the mixture of two isomeric indenols was formed.