Metal-free and solvent-free synthesis of m-terphenyls through tandem cyclocondensation of aryl methyl ketones with triethyl orthoformate

Reported here is a novel cyclocondensation of aryl methyl ketones and triethyl orthoformate for the simple synthesis of m-terphenyls. In the presence of a catalytic amount of TfOH, alkyl- and chloro-substituted acetophenones produced a series of terphenyls through a tandem reaction which merged six steps into a one-pot procedure. Moreover, the corresponding ester products were obtained when using other substituted acetophenones as the starting materials under the same reaction conditions.