Benzodithiophene-Fused Cyclopentannulated Aromatics via a Palladium-Catalyzed Cyclopentannulation and Scholl Cyclodehydrogenation Strategy

Effect of Chalcogenophenes on Chiroptical Activity of Twisted Tetracenes: Computational Analysis, Synthesis and Crystal Structure Thereof

The synthesis of multiply substituted acenes is still a relevant research problem, considering their applications and future potential. Here we present an elegant synthetic protocol to afford tetra-peri-substituted naphthalene and tetracene from their tetrahalo derivatives by a Pd(0)-catalyzed C-C cross-coupling method in a single step. The newly synthesized tetracenes were characterized by NMR, HRMS, UV-vis spectrophotometry, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD). In addition, the first systematic computational study of the effect of chalcogenophenyl substitutions on the chiroptical properties of twistacenes was reported here. The gas phase computational studies using density functional theory (DFT) on a series of chalcogenophene-substituted tetracenes revealed that their chiroptical activity could be systematically increased via the atomistic tuning of peripheral substituents.

Cascade Synthesis of Phenanthrenes under Photoirradiation

We report a photoinduced phenanthrene synthesis from aryl iodides and styrenes through an arylation/cyclization cascade. Compared to prior methods, this approach obviates the need for hazardous reagents and provides access to unsymmetrical phenanthrenes with good functional group tolerance. Mechanistic studies revealed that photoexcitation of aryl iodides leads to homolytic C-I bond cleavage. Arylation of styrenes with the formed aryl radical species furnishes stilbene derivatives, which undergo photoinduced cyclization promoted by iodine generated in situ to yield phenanthrene products.

Rapid Access to Hydroxyfluoranthenes via a Domino Suzuki-Miyaura/Intramolecular Diels-Alder/Ring-Opening Reactions Sequence

In this work, we developed an efficient method for the rapid construction of fluoranthene skeleton to access a variety of substituted hydroxyfluoranthenes. The 1-iodo-8-alkynylnaphthalene derivatives, which serve as substrates for the key fluoranthene-forming step, were prepared via selective monoalkynylative Sonogashira reactions of 1,8-diiodonaphthalene. The domino reaction sequence which involves a sequential Suzuki–Miyaura coupling, an intramolecular Diels–Alder reaction, and an aromatization-driven ring-opening isomerization has been shown to give substituted hydroxyfluoranthenes in up to 92% yield. This work demonstrates the utility of designing new domino reactions for rapid access to substituted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).