Synthesis of Polysubstituted Benzoic Esters from 1,2-Dihydropyridines and Its Application to the Synthesis of Fluorenones

A convenient, instrumentally simple, and efficient methodology to transform 1,2-dihydropyridines into benzoic esters is described. The generated multisubstituted benzoic esters feature different topologies spanning from simple aromatic rings to fused benzocycloalkane systems. As an extension of this methodology, these benzoic esters are efficiently transformed into an array of fluorenone frameworks featuring interesting and novel topological patterns.