Carbanion-induced base-catalyzed synthesis of 1H-isothiochromenes, benzo[c]thiochromenes through ring-transformation reactions of 6-aryl-2H-pyran-2-ones.

An innovative approach to the one-pot synthesis of highly functionalized 3,4-dihydro-1H-isothiochromenes (3), 6H-benzo[c]thiochromenes (5, 6), 6H-benzo[c]chromenes (8), and 2,3-dihydro-1-benzothiophenes (10, 11) is delineated from the reaction of a suitably functionalized 6-aryl-3-carbomethoxy-4-methylthio-2H-pyran-2-one (1) and a carbanion generated from tetrahydrothiopyran-4-one, 4-thiochromanone, 4-chromanone, and tetrahydrothiophene-3-one through ring-transformation reactions.