Friedel-Crafts Acylation Reaction Using Catalytic SbCl3-TEBA Complex as a Novel and Efficient Catalyst

The Friedel-Crafts acylation reaction is a useful procedure for forming carbon-carbon bonds on aryl rings, and is a common procedure in organic synthesis as well as in the chemical industry [1]. The basic operation of the Friedel-Crafts acylation and related reactions requires the addition of a Lewis acid as catalyst, such as metal chloride [2-4] (AlCl3, SbCl5, BF3, FeCl3, BiCl3, TiCl4 and SnCl4), which is often strongly oxyphilic. In the present work, we report a novel Lewis acid catalytic system, the antimony(Ш) chloride-benzyltriethylammonium chloride  SbCl3-TEBA complex, which has many advantages, such as ready access, minimal toxicity, insensitivity to atmosphere and moisture, rapid acylation with high yield, and ease of operation. [(C2H5)3(C7H7)N]2SbCl5 is an environmentally friendly complex that can be reused and its activity could be maintained; this indicates the potential usefulness of this class of catalysts for future studies and their applications in the fields of organic synthesis, industrial production and green chemistry. It catalyzes Friedel-Crafts acylation reactions smoothly as shown in Scheme 1.