Diethylamine: A smart organocatalyst in eco-safe and diastereoselective synthesis of medicinally privileged 2-amino-4H-chromenes at ambient temperature

Diethylamine has been demonstrated to be an efficient organocatalyst in the diastereoselective synthesis of Bcl-2 protein antagonist (HA-14-1) and of its structural analogues by one-pot condensation between salicylaldehyde and three different C–H acids, viz. ethyl cyanoacetate, phenylsulfonyl acetonitrile, and malononitrile. Easy commercial availability of the catalyst at extremely low cost and avoidance of conventional work-up as well as purification procedures qualifies this scalable protocol for a “near-ideal synthesis”.

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