Microwave-assisted silica-supported aluminum chloride-catalyzed Friedel-Crafts alkylation

Microwave irradiation is a popular method in organic synthesis to achieve high yields in shorter reaction times. This decreases total 'man-hours' in a synthetic setting. Another technique used in organic chemistry to decrease manual manipulations, is solid support reagents. The benefits of this approach is that upon completion of a reaction, a simple filtration can be performed which expedites the work-up and also produces less organic waste. Friedel-Crafts alkylation has been explored using microwave chemistry as well as with solid-supported reagents. In comparison with traditional heating, as well as with AlCl3, superior yields were observed with silica-gel bound aluminum chloride (Si-AlClx) when microwave irradiated for only 5 min.