Sulpholane - A new solvent for the Baylis-Hillman reaction

Sulpholane, a commercially available solvent, is used for the first time as a new solvent for the Baylis-Hillman reaction tinder ambient conditions; a wide variety of olefins as well as aldehydes participate very efficiently resulting in good to excellent yields of products. Acrylamide also underwent the Baylis-Hillman reaction with 4-nitrobenzaldehyde under these reaction conditions. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.