Abstract
Ytterbium, scandium, and lanthanum triflates catalyze the cleavage reactions of cyclic ethers to give various products. Most notable was the acylative cleavage of tetrahydrofuran with acetic anhydride catalyzed by Yb(triflate)3 to give the dimeric compound CH3CO2(CH2)4O(CH2)4OCOCH3 in 69% yield.
Acknowledgments
We gratefully acknowledge the generous financial support of Lafayette's Committee on Advanced Study and Research in the form of stipends under the EXCEL Scholar program to DAR, ST, and RLG. We gratefully acknowledge a grant from the Kresge Foundation for the purchase of a 400 MHz NMR spectrometer.