Iron-containing mesoporous aluminosilicate catalyzed direct alkenylation of phenols: Facile synthesis of 1,1-diarylalkenes.

The addition of phenols to aryl-substituted alkynes to form 1,1-diarylalkenes was carried out by using the Fe-Al-MCM-41 catalyst. The catalyst showed remarkable improvement in time and yield in comparison to other solid catalysts. The heterogeneous catalyst can be reused at least three times without a significant loss in activity.