Sulfonic acid functionalized mesoporous SBA-15 as an efficient and recyclable catalyst for the synthesis of chromenes from chromanols

Abstract Sulfonic acid functionalized mesoporous SBA-15 silica was found to be highly efficient and versatile solid acid catalyst for the synthesis of chromenes from chromanols under heterogeneous reaction conditions. Excellent yield (96–99%) of chromenes was achieved in a short reaction time (10 min) with added advantage of more than ten times catalyst recylability.