Indane


Indane or indan is an organic compound with the formula C6H43. It is a colorless liquid hydrocarbon. It is a petrochemical, a bicyclic compound. It occurs at the level of about 0.1% in coal tar. It is usually produced by hydrogenation of indene.

Reactions

Indane can also be converted in a catalytic reactor to other aromatics such as xylene.
Indane is used in the synthesis of sulofenur.

Derivatives

Derivatives include compounds such as 1-methyl-indane and 2-methyl-indane, 4-methyl-indane and 5-methyl-indane, various dimethyl-indanes. Other derivatives can be obtained indirectly, e.g. the reaction of diethyl phthalate with ethyl acetate, using metallic sodium and ethanol as a catalyst. The reaction yields indanedione ethyl ester, which can react with the sodium ions yielding a salt. This can be reversed by adding an aqueous solution of hydrochloric acid.
A family of indane derivatives are empathogen-entactogens. They are very close derivatives of other empathogen-entactogens such as MDMA and MDA. Examples include MDAI and MDMAI. Nichols also created an indane isomer of amphetamine, 2-aminoindane, NM-2-AI, and an iodized derivative 5-IAI.