Unleashing the Catalytic Power of Boric Acid: Accelerating the Knoevenagel Condensation between Aldehydes and Active Methylene Compounds

An efficient one-pot green synthesis of 2-alkylidene/arylidene derivatives was reported from active methylene compounds and 4-chlorobenzaldehyde in the presence of 10 mol% of boric acid in ethanol under conventional conditions. All derivatives are obtained in good to excellent yield. The structures of synthesized compounds were confirmed from their FTIR, ¹H-NMR, and Mass Spectroscopy. The importance of these compounds is predicted from their SAR study.