Selective Ir-catalysed borylation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: structures of naphthalene-2,6-bis(boronate), pyrene-2,7-bis(boronate) and perylene-2,5,8,11-tetra(boronate) esters.

The selectivity of the iridium boryl complex-catalysed reaction of pyrene and perylene with B2(pin)2 (pin = OCMe2CMe2O) has been employed in the synthesis of D(2h)-symmetry pyrene-2,7-(Bpin)2 and D(4h)-symmetry perylene-2,5,8,11-(Bpin)4 providing direct borylation of positions which are otherwise difficult to derivatise.