Tritylium assisted iodine catalysis for the synthesis of unsymmetrical triarylmethanes

Abstract

The combined Lewis acid catalytic system, generated from molecular iodine and tritylium tetrafluoroborate effectively catalyzed the Friedel–Crafts (FC) arylation of diarylmethyl sulfides providing an efficient access to various unsymmetrical triarylmethanes. The addition of tritylium and iodine created a more active catalytic system to promote the cleavage of sulfidic C–S bonds.