The scope of the reaction was examined by considering a range of aldehydes as shown in Table [¹] . It was observed that the reaction holds good for simple aromatic aldehydes and aldehydes having electron-withdrawing groups on the aromatic ring. Aromatic aldehydes having electron-donating groups such as anisaldehyde failed to give products. This can be attributed to the stability of the benzylic carbocation due to the presence of methoxy group on the ...
