Facile synthesis of ferrocenyl silyl ethers and their utility as synthetic equivalents of hydroxyferrocenes

Abstract

The reactions of trialkylsilyltrifluoromethanesulfonic acid esters with four different cyclopent-2-en-1-ones afford the respective cyclopentadienyl silyl ethers, which can be transformed into the respective ferrocenyl silyl ethers in good yields; cleavage of the silyl ethers under basic conditions leads leads, via hydroxyferrocenes, to ferrocenyl–alkyl ethers.