Highly luminescent, polyaryl mesobenzanthrones

Several highly luminescent, aryl-substituted mesobenzanthrones (7H-benz[de]anthracen-7-ones) were prepared by a simple, two-step synthesis: addition of a carboxylated benzyne to a cyclopentadienone followed by an intramolecular Friedel–Crafts acylation. These compounds exhibit brilliant, yellow-green luminescence with quantum yields ranging from 0.01 to 1, depending on the aryl substituents present, and their photophysical behavior was elucidated by experimental and computational methods.

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