Synthesis of substituted fluorene ligands

1. A method for preparing substituted fluorenes that comprises the steps of:

I. alkylating diphenylmethane with at least 2 equivalents alkylating agent of general formula

wherein

X is a halogen selected from Cl, Br or I;

Ra, Rb and Rc are each independently selected from alkyl, aryl, heteroaryl, cycloalkyl or alkenyl having from 1 to 20 carbon atoms, with the restriction that a carbon atom from each of Ra, Rb and Rc is directly attached to the carbon atom in the presence of a Lewis acid and crystallizing the alkylated product;

II. brominating the step I product with 2.01 to 2.05 equivalents of bromine at between 10° C. and 20° C. in the presence of a Lewis acid or a metal that is able to give Lewis acid in the reaction medium, followed by washing with a solution and recrystallization after separation and drying;

III. reacting the product resulting from step II with a reducing agent in the presence of a catalyst consisting of a ligand of general formula

wherein

Rm, Rn Rp and Rq are each independently selected from hydrocarbyl having from 1 to 30 carbon atoms or any organic substituent with the restriction that a halogen cannot be directly attached to N and wherein any two consecutive R's of the ligand can be joined to make a ring, and wherein E's are the same or different and are each independently selected from C, N, P or B;

and

a compound of a Group 10 metal.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein in complex CXRaRbRc, in step I, X is chlorine and Ra, Rb and Rc are each independently selected from alkyl having from 1 to 6 carbon atoms.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein Ra, Rb and Rc are the same and are tert-butyl.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein, in step I, the Lewis acid is AlCl 3 .

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the amount of Lewis acid is of from 0.01 to 5 wt % based on the weight of all reactants in stage I.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein in step II the catalyst is Fe.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein, in the ligand of step III substituents Rm and Rn directly attached to nitrogen are independently selected from secondary or tertiary hydrocarbyls having between 3 and 30 carbon atoms.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the reducing agent of step III is zinc in powder form.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the final product is 3,6-di-tert-butyl-fluorene.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the reacting step of Step III further comprises reacting with a salt of HCl, HBr or HI.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the salt of HCl, HBr or HI of step III is (C 2 H 5 ) 4 NI, KBr, NaBr, KI, NaI or CsBr.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the compound of the Group 10 metal is an anhydrous salt of the Group 10 metal.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the compound of Group 10 metal of step III is an anhydrous salt of Ni.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein Ra, Rb, and Rc are the same and are tert-butyl.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the Lewis acid is AlCl 3 and the product of Step I includes residual Al.