Patent ID: 7199274

Claim:
A process for preparing substituted indenes of the formula (I) and their double bond isomers of the formula (Ia) which comprises converting a compound of the formula (II) into a bisorganometallic compound of the formula (III) and reacting this with a compound of the formula (IV) to give an indanol of the formula (V) and converting this into an indene of the formula (I) or (Ia) by elimination of water, wherein the compound of the formula (II) is prepared by coupling of a compound of the formula (VI) with a compound of the formula (VII) R 2 —X 2 (VII) in the presence of a transition metal catalyst, with either the compound of the formula (VI) or the compound of the formula (VII) firstly being converted into a corresponding organo-metallic compound, and the coupling product of the formula (VIII) is reacted with a halogenating agent to give a compound of the formula (II), where R 1 is a linear, branched or cyclic C 1 –C 10 -alkyl radical, R 2 is a substituted or unsubstituted C 6 –C 18 -aryl radical selected from the group consisting of phenyl, 1-naphthyl, phenanthryl, 3-tert-butylphenyl, 4-tert-butylphenyl, 3,5-di(tert-butyl)phenyl, 4,4′-biphenyl and 3,5-di(phenyl)phenyl, R 3 –R 5 are each hydrogen, X is a chlorine atom, X 1 is halogen, X 2 is halogen, M is magnesium monochloride and, Y is OR 6 , where R 6 is a linear, branched or cyclic C 1 –C 10 -alkyl radical.