Study of in situ generation of carbocationic system from trityl chloride (Ph3CCl) which efficiently catalyzed cross-aldol condensation reaction

Organocatalyst trityl chloride (Ph3CCl), by in situ formation of trityl carbocation with inherent instability, efficiently promotes the cross-aldol condensation reaction between cycloalkanones and arylaldehydes in solvent-free and homogeneous media to afford α,α′-bis(arylidene)cycloalkanones in high yields. Moreover, an attractive and plausible mechanism based on observations and the literature is proposed for the reaction.

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