Selenium dioxide-mediated oxidative annulation of sulfonyl <i>o</i>-hydroxyacetophenones with acetophenones. One-pot synthesis of aurone analogs

Selenium dioxide-mediated one-pot oxidative annulation of sulfonyl <i>o</i>-hydroxyacetophenones with acetophenones generates good yields of aurone analogs in refluxing dioxane under dry air atmosphere conditions. A plausible mechanism is proposed and discussed here. In the overall reaction process, selenium-containing compounds were generated as byproducts. Various oxidant-promoted conditions were also investigated for one-pot annulation.