Reductive Etherification of Aldehydes and Ketones with Alcohols and Triethylsilane Catalysed by Yb(OTf)3: an Efficient One‐Pot Benzylation of Alcohols

Abstract The one‐pot synthesis of symmetrical and unsymmetrical ethers from aldehydes and ketones can be conveniently performed using Yb(OTf) 3 as catalyst and triethylsilane as reducing agent in presence of alcohols. This methodology leads to the synthesis of ether derivatives with good yields. Notably, this process resulted a useful tool to protect alcohols as benzyl ether derivatives using differently substituted benzaldehydes as protecting agents under mild conditions. A plausible mechanism was also proposed. magnified image