The Friedel–Crafts reaction is one of the most well-known methods available to organic chemists, but Friedel–Crafts methylation of arenes is generally not effective. Here, the authors use an HF/SbF5 superacid system to generate an arenium ion, which enables meta-selective methylation after a rearrangement.
- Paul Bourbon
- Kassandra Vitse
- Sébastien Thibaudeau