Behavior of arylvinylketones in zeolites: A systematic study Original Research Article

The zeolite-promoted cyclization of arylvinylketones to indanones has been investigated, regarding zeolite nature and substitution pattern in the starting materials. 2-Substituted arylvinylketones reacted more readily in H-ZSM5, giving high yield (>90%) of the corresponding indanones, while the 3-substituted are more efficiently converted to the corresponding indanones by H-USY. Rearranged product and solvent addition products were also isolated in a few cases, giving insight into cyclization mechanisms.