Azzharuddin Sardar, Shreya Halder, Dinesh Singh, Binte Zehra, Tanishkaa Patranabish, Kshatresh Dutta Dubey, Santanu Ghosh
-dialkyl/aryl chromenes using a bifunctional 2-aminopyridine catalyst. The reaction employs inexpensive phenols and β,β-disubstituted enals and proceeds through an aza-Friedel-Crafts/oxa-6π electrocyclization cascade sequence. This operationally simple and scalable method exhibits a broad substrate scope and enables concise gram-scale syntheses of bioactive chromenes, including precocene I, confluentin, and α-daurichromenic acid, along with the formal synthesis of rhododaurichromanic acid A and (+) α-tocopherol. Detailed hybrid QM/MM MD and physicochemical studies provide mechanistic insight into the catalytic pathway.