Rhodium- and iridium-catalyzed dehydrogenative cyclization through double C-H bond cleavages to produce fluorene derivatives.

The rhodium-catalyzed cyclization of a series of 2,2-diarylalkanoic acids in the presence of copper acetate as an oxidant smoothly proceeded through double C-H bond cleavages and subsequent decarboxylation to produce the corresponding fluorene derivatives. The direct cyclization of triarylmethanols also took place efficiently by using an iridium catalyst in place of the rhodium, while the hydroxy function was still intact.