The first in situ synthesis of 1,3-dioxan-5-one derivatives and their direct use in Claisen-Schmidt reactions

A method is developed for in situ generation of 1,3-dioxan-5-one derivatives 2. These compounds are simple precursors for accessing carbohydrate structures and previously had to be produced via stepwise procedures using excessive amounts of reagents. In the present work, three different derivatives of 2 were synthesized via the reaction of trialkoxyalkanes with dihydroxyacetone dimer 1 in the presence of acetic acid as the catalyst. In the same pot, derivatives of 2 were reacted with aromatic aldehydes and 30 mol% of pyrrolidine to obtain high yields of the respective bischalcones 3 within short time periods.