Organocatalytic approach toward the green one-pot synthesis of novel benzo[f]chromenes and 12H-benzo[5,6]chromeno[2,3-b]pyridines

An efficient tandem reaction approach is described to prepare novel benzo[f]chromenes from 2,3-dihydroxynaphthalene, malononitrile and aldehydes using 10 mol% guanidine hydrochloride as the catalyst under solvent-free conditions. The method was also extended to the preparation of novel 12H-benzo[5,6]chromeno[2,3-b]pyridines from 2-aminoprop-1-ene-1,1,3-tricarbonitrile instead of malononitrile under the same reaction conditions. The described one-pot three-component reaction is characterized by short reaction times, high-product yield, mild reaction conditions, simple workup procedure, and simple purification.