Anisyl and ferrocenyl adducts of methylenepyran-containing β-diketone: Synthesis, spectral, structural, and redox properties Dedicated to our distinguished colleague and friend Professor Bertrand Caro for his scientific achievements in the field of organometallic methylenepyran chemistry.

Wittig reaction between the in situ generated [2,6-diphenyl-4H-pyran-4-yl phosphorane and methyl 4-formylbenzoate afforded the methyl 4-[(2,6-diphenyl-4H- pyran-4-ylidene)methyl]benzoate precursor 2 in 75% yield. The anisyl and ferrocenyl adducts of methylenepyran-containing β-diketones 3 and 4, respectively, were prepared from the base-catalyzed Claisen condensation reaction between precursor 2 and 4-methoxyacetophenone or acetylferrocene, using t-BuO^-K⁺ as basic initiator. Both β-diketones 3 and 4 were isolated as an orange and dark-red crystalline solids in 50% yield, respectively. The acetyl derivative 6, 1-acetyl-1′-methylenepyranyl- ferrocene, was synthesized following a classical Friedel-Crafts acylation reaction of the parent ferrocenylmethylenepyran 5, and isolated in 61% yield as a red microcrystalline powder. The condensation reaction between the electron-rich acetyl complex 6 and acetyl acetate, using lithium diisopropylamide as the active base initiator, provided the ferrocenylmethylenepyran-containing β-diketone, 1-(1,3-dioxobutyl)- 1′-[(2,6-diphenyl-4H-pyran-4-ylidene)methyl] ferrocene 7, isolated in 20% yield as an orange powder. The composition and identity of the new compounds 2-4, 6 and 7 are supported by elemental analysis, FT-IR, one- and two-dimensional ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectral data and mass spectrometry. Additionally, the molecular structures of compounds 2, 4 and 6 were ascertained by single-crystal X-ray diffraction study. FT-IR and NMR spectral data indicate that both β-diketones 3 and 4 do solely exist as their keto-enol tautomeric form in solution and in the solid state, whereas a mixture of keto-enol and β-diketone tautomers in a 73:27 spectroscopic ratio was observed for 7. In the three cases, enolization takes place exclusively away from the anisyl or ferrocenyl group with formation of a six-membered pseudo-aromatic keto-enol ring, confirmed by the crystal structure of 4. Cyclic voltammetric measurements revealed that all the compounds undergo a single one-electron oxidation, localized presumably at the methylenepyran unit. This first oxidation generates a radical cation that undergoes an intermolecular C-C bond coupling to form the corresponding dimer. Anodically shifted to the first oxidation, cyclovoltammogram of 4 exhibits one reversible two-electron oxidation while that of 6 and 7 present two successive reversible one-electron oxidations, attributed in the three cases to the ferrocenyl fragment of the dimer.