Silica gel-mediated organic reactions under organic solvent-free conditions.

Silica gel was found to be an excellent medium for some useful organic transformations under organic solvent-free conditions, such as (1) the Friedel-Crafts-type nitration of arenes using commercial aqueous 69% nitric acid alone at room temperature, (2) one-pot Wittig-type olefination of aldehydes with activated organic halides in the presence of tributyl- or triphenylphosphine and Hunig's base, and (3) the Morita-Baylis-Hillman reaction of aldehydes with methyl acrylate. After the reactions, the desired products were easily obtained in good to excellent yields through simple manipulation.