Patent ID: 7166731

Claim:
A method of preparing a 1,4,6-substituted, 1,4-substituted, 1,6-substituted, or 1-substituted fulvene compound comprising a) reacting Formula I below with a compound of Formula IIa or IIb below to prepare a compound of Formula III below; R 1 —Li (IIa) R 1 —MgX (IIb) b) lithiating the compound of the Formula III, and then reacting the resulting lithium salt with an electrophile of Formula IV below to prepare a compound of Formula V below; c) reacting more than one equivalent of the compound of the Formula V with a compound of Formula VI below to prepare an ether, and then dehydrating with an acid catalyst to prepare a compound of Formula VII below; and R 5 —Y (VI) d) adding a base to the compound of the Formula VII to prepare a fulvene compound of Formula VIII wherein R 1 , R 2 , R 3 and R 4 are each independently or simultaneously a hydrogen atom; a C 1 –C 20 alkyl or aryl comprising optionally an oxygen atom; or a C 1 –C 20 alkenyl, alkylaryl or arylalkyl, and R 1 is not a hydrogen atom, and R 3 and R 4 can be connected together by an alkylidene radical comprising a C 1 –C 20 alkyl or aryl radical to form a ring; X is a halogen atom; R 5 is a C 1 –C 20 alkyl, alkenyl, alkylaryl, or a radical of Group XIV metal substituted with an arylalkyl, an aryl, an alkoxyalkyl or a hydrocarbyl; Y is a leaving group formed by a nucleophilic substitution reaction.