Synthesis of tetrafunctionalized pentiptycenequinones for construction of cyclic dimers with a cylindrical shape by boronate ester formation

New tetrasubstituted pentiptycenequinone derivatives 1 and 2 having two sets of diol moieties in a syn orientation were synthesized from the corresponding 2,3-disubstituted anthracene derivatives. The semicircular scaffold of these molecules is expected to be useful to create a belt-like structure having an aromatic π-wall. Indeed, the reaction of 1 with 1,4-phenylenediboronic acid or 4,4′-biphenyldiboronic acid quantitatively gave a 2:2 macrocyclic product via boronate ester formation. The efficient formation of these cyclic structures can be explained by favorable intramolecular cyclization at the final step.

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