Solid Acid-Catalyzed Dehydration of Pinacol Derivatives in Ionic Liquid: Simple and Efficient Access to Branched 1,3-Dienes

The selective dehydration of pinacol derivatives to branched 1,3-dienes is extremely challenging because of the predominance of pinacol rearrangement. Herein, we successfully achieve this goal by employing a recyclable solid acid/ionic liquid catalyst system. The dehydration of alkyl- and cycloalkyl-derived diols in an Amberlyst-15/[Emim]Cl system afforded the corresponding 1,3-dienes in good yields, while a Nafion/[Emim]­Cl system was demonstrated to be a better catalyst system for the dehydration of aryl-substituted substrates. Our protocol features straightforward and simple access to branched 1,3-dienes, high chemoselectivity, a recyclable catalyst system, a facile separation of dienes just by decantation, and a broad substrate scope.