Efficient entry to trifluoromethyl substituted chromanes from oxidative aromatization of tetrahydro-2H-chromen-5(6H)-ones using iodine/alcohol with conventional and microwave methods

This paper describes the one-pot simple and efficient oxidative aromatization reaction employing an iodine/alcohol medium for the preparation of a series of 11 new 3-acyl-2-hydroxy-5-alkoxy-4-aryl-2-(trifluoromethyl)chromanes, where acyl = Ac, Bz, furan-2-oyl; aryl = Ph, 4-NO2C6H4, 4-OCH3C6H4 and alkoxy = OMe, O-Prn, EtO and OBn from the respective 3-acyl-4-aryl-2-(trifluoromethyl)-2-hydroxy-3,4,7,8-tetrahydro-2H-chromen-5(6H)-ones. Yields in the range of 50–89% were obtained when the oxidative reactions were performed using both conventional thermal heating (CTH) and microwave (MW) procedures. In general, the MW method produced similar yields with shorter reaction times and easier reaction workups. As an example, a representative X-ray diffraction ORTEP for 3-benzoyl-2-hydroxy-5-methoxy-4-methoxyphenyl-2-(trifluoromethyl)chromane is also shown.