Continuing efforts on the improvement of Beckmann rearrangement of indanone oxime.

Continuing search for beneficial additive toward the Beckmann rearrangement (BR) of indanone oxime has revealed that common Lewis acid catalyst in methanesulfonyl chloride (MsCl) showed increasing efficiency in this ionic rearrangement. The new protocol with MsCl is superior to the classical phosphorus-based methods such as PPA and Eaton reagent, especially in the reaction of indanone oximes.