Organic and Inorganic Chemistry

Fluorene derivatives have attracted wide spread interest because of their important applications in the fields of biomedical and photoelectric materials. Moreover, they are also effective ligands in organometallic chemistry and unique protecting groups in peptide synthesis. In recent years, the photoelectrical potential of fluorene and related derivatives has become well recognized. Herein we report a novel and efficient metal-free method for the synthesis of perfluoroalkylated fluorenylphosphonate derivatives 4 involving the reaction of 1-indanones 1, malononitrile 2 and perfluoroalkynyl phosphonates 3 (Scheme 1). A series of perfluoroalkylated fluorenylphosphonate derivatives 4 were synthesized in moderate to good yields.