[reaction: see text] Aryl coumaryl ethylenes undergo oxidative photocyclization readily to yield helical pyrone-annulated condensed aromatics. The pyrones are conveniently converted to the corresponding photochromic diphenylpyrans/chromenes. Both pyrones and chromenes exhibit helicity-dependent fluorescence efficiency and persistence, respectively.

A catalytic asymmetric oxidative iminium-allenamine cascade allows the use of propargyl alcohols as stable substrates and yields valuable chiral bicyclic 4H-chromenes. A subsequent Michael addition-condensation domino reaction provides complex tricyclic 4H-chromenes in a highly enantioselective fashion.

Conditions enabling the single-step preparative synthesis of chiral 4-fluoropolyhydro-2H-chromenes in good yields through a reaction between monoterpenoid alcohols with para-menthane skeleton and aldehydes were developed for the first time. The BF3·Et2O/H2O system is used both as a catalyst and as a fluorine source. The reaction can involve aliphatic aldehydes as well as aromatic aldehydes cont...

An efficient base catalysed approach to the synthesis of thiochromans/chromenes from allenylphosphonates (and an allenoate) and substrates having SH/OH and CHO groups at appropriate positions has been developed. Several azo-linked chromenes that are bright red pigments are also synthesized. This methodology involves the domino reactions of Michael addition and subsequent cyclisation by intramol...

2-Amino-3-cyano-4H-chromenes show great potential as novel anticancer agents. Here we report a quinine-catalyzed highly enantioselective formal 4 + 2 cycloaddition of ortho-quinone methides and malononitrile, providing a unique approach to 4-arylvinyl, 4-aryl and 4-vinyl 2-amino-3-cyano-4H-chromenes with excellent yields and enantioselectivities. Moreover, this reaction can be performed in up t...

A four-step synthesis of allylic trichloroacetimidates bearing a 2-proparyloxyaryl group has been developed from readily available 2-hydroxybenzaldehydes, and these have been used for the preparation of allylic amide derived 2H-chromenes using an Overman rearrangement and a 6-endo-dig hydroarylation. High yields of the 2H-chromenes were achieved using a stepwise approach involving an Overman re...

An enantioselective Pd-catalyzed 6-endo-trig reaction for the synthesis of 2-aryl-chromenes has been developed. A systematic optimization of a TADDOL-derived ligand set resulted in the identification of a novel monodentate phosphoramidite-palladium catalyst that accesses 2-aryl-2H-chromenes with high yield and enantioselectivity under mild conditions. The products obtained from this method can ...

A convenient one-step synthesis of 2,2-dimethylchromans and chromenes using Amberlyst 15 as a catalyst is described.

An efficient protocol for the asymmetric construction of enantiomerically enriched tetrahydro-6H-benzo[c]chromenes and their derivatives has been developed. The corresponding products were obtained by the cascade double Michael addition of 3-nitro-2H-chromenes and their derivatives with α,β-unsaturated ketones catalyzed by a combination of a quinine-derived primary amine and benzoic acid. Throu...

A series of functionalized 4H-chromenes have been constructed by using a novel FeCl(3)-catalyzed benzylation-cyclization tandem reaction.