Synthesis of molecular tweezers bearing pentafluorophenyl and several pendant aryl groups: Effective application of the modified Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reaction

A molecular tweezer bearing two pentafluorophenyl groups 2b and its o-methylated aryl homologue 2c were newly synthesized by the slight modification of the known procedure. The low yield in the introduction of pentafluorophenyl group to the precursor dibromide 6 was improved by application of the modified Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reaction using C6F5B(OH)2 with Pd2(dba)3/P(t-Bu)3/CsF/Ag2O catalytic system, which was recently developed by us.

Graphical abstractA molecular tweezer bearing two pentafluorophenyl groups was synthesized by application of the modified Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reaction using C6F5B(OH)2 with Pd2(dba)3/P(t-Bu)3/CsF/Ag2O catalytic system. Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide