Construction of macrocyclic structure using conformational properties of secondary and tertiary aromatic amides

A large macrocyclic compound with six para-phenylene rings and six amide moieties, which are alternately secondary and tertiary, was synthesized. In a stepwise synthesis, the final cyclization step was successful because a combination of three tertiary amides, which prefer a cis conformation, and two linear secondary amides would arrange both amino and carboxyl ends close to each other, while various sizes of macrocyclic compounds including the target cyclic trimer were generated in one-pot synthesis where three secondary amide bonds were formed.