A nontoxic FeCl 3 catalyzed intramolecular oxidative coupling reaction was developed for mild synthesis of a series of phenanthrenes with different substituents. The method involves cross dehydrogenative coupling of a variety of 1,2-diarylethylene derivatives with di-tert-butylperoxide (DTBP) as a sole oxidant at room temperature in CH 2 Cl 2 /TFA (9∶1 V/V) to yield phenanthrenes in good to excellent yields.
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