Lithium Bromide as a Mild, Efficient, and Recyclable Catalyst for the One-Pot Synthesis of Tetrahydro-4H-Chromene Derivatives in Aqueous Media

A simple, efficient, one-pot method has been developed for the synthesis of tetrahydro-4H-chromene derivatives by concurrent reaction of aryl aldehydes, active methylene compounds, and 1,3-cyclohexanedins using a catalytic amount of lithium bromide in aqueous media. The present approach offers several advantages such as shorter reaction times, good yields, low cost, recycling of the catalyst, and simple workup.