Formic Acid: A Low-Cost, Mild, Ecofriendly, and Highly Efficient Catalyst for the Rapid Synthesis of β-Enaminones

Abstract β-Enaminones have been synthesized by the condensation reaction of β-diketones with various anilines in the presence of a catalytic amount of formic acid, mild and highly efficient acid catalyst in methanol. These condensation reactions proceed smoothly in short reaction times with near-quantitative yields. Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Synthetic Communications® to view the free supplemental file.