Sulfated zirconia as an efficient heterogeneous and reusable catalyst for one pot synthesis of flavanones

Abstract EN

A simple and one pot process for the synthesis of flavanones in the presence of SO2 4 = ZrO2, a reusable, heterogeneous catalyst has been described.

The reactions were conducted both with and without solvent (using toluene as solvent) at 140 C with reaction times of 3–4 h.

Under these conditions several examples were found with very good yields (73–87 %) and up to 83 % selectivity.

The catalyst was easily recycled and reused without loss of its catalytic activity.

The present synthetic method is a simple, clean and environment friendly alternative for synthesizing substituted flavanones.