Supercritical diethylether: A novel solvent for the synthesis of aryl-3,4,5,6,7,9-hexahydroxanthene-1,8-diones

•An efficient and simple method for the synthesis of xanthenediones in supercritical ether.•Applicability for several aldehydes.•The new method can compete with reaction in subcritical water.

An efficient and simple method for the preparation of -aryl-3,4,5,6,7,9-hexahydroxanthene-1,8-diones from 1,3-cyclohexadione and several aldehydes in the presence of supercritical diethylether has been developed. The present method has several advantages such as excellent yields, relatively short reaction time (60 min), simple work-up procedure, and the use of a cheap solvent. Experiments were also performed in subcritical water. However, subcritical water is not found a proper reaction media for the synthesis of xanthenediones.

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