Deoxygenation of tertiary and secondary benzylic alcohols into alkanes with triethylsilane catalyzed by solid acid tin(IV) ion-exchanged montmorillonite

We discovered an efficient protocol for the conversion of tertiary and secondary benzylic alcohols into the corresponding alkanes in good to quantitative yields by employing tin(IV) ion-exchanged montmorillonite (Sn-Mont) as a solid acid catalyst and Et3SiH as the hydride source. The reaction is likely to proceed via the S_N1-type reaction mechanism, that is, the formation of carbenium ions, followed by the addition of a hydride from the silane. The work-up of the reaction only requires simple filtration of the solid acid without any neutralization of the acid catalyst.