Friedel—Crafts Arylation of α‐Hydroxy Ketones: Synthesis of 1,2,2,2‐Tetraarylethanones.

Friedel-Crafts arylation of a-hydroxy ketones such as 2-hydroxy- 1,2,2-triarylethanones has been achieved with a variety of arenes and heteroarenes in the presence of Lewis or Bronsted acids. Both sterically hindered and unhindered 1,2,2,2-tetrarylethanones are formed in good to excellent yields by using a stoichiometric amount of triflic acid. The intermediacy of an a-keto carbenium ion has been proposed.