Tritylium assisted iodine catalysis for the synthesis of unsymmetrical triarylmethanes.

The combined Lewis acid catalytic system, generated from molecular iodine and tritylium tetrafluoroborate effectively catalyzed the Friedel-Crafts (FC) arylation of diarylmethyl sulfides providing an efficient access to various unsymmetrical triarylmethanes. The addition of tritylium and iodine created a more active catalytic system to promote the cleavage of sulfidic C-S bonds.