Reactions of arylacetylenic compounds with arenes in the presence of aluminum halides

Conjugated arylacetylenic ketones and aldehydes, propargyl-type alcohols, and arylacetylenes reacted with arenes in the presence of AlBr3 or AlCl3 as catalyst to give substituted indenes. 3-Arylpropynoic acids under analogous conditions gave rise to 3,3-diarylindan-1-ones, while the corresponding methyl esters were converted into methyl 3,3-diarylprop-2-enoates. The key intermediates in the transformations of acetylenic ketones and aldehydes and propargyl-type alcohols into indene derivatives are resonance-stabilized propargyl-allenyl cations -C C-C+ <-> -C+=C=C which reacted with one of the resonance structures to give isomeric indenes, depending on the substituent nature.