Preparation of Large Perphenylbiaryls: Can Intermolecular Coupling Compete with Intramolecular Cyclization of Precursors?

The highly substituted naphthalenes 1,2,3,4,5,6,7-heptaphenylnaphthalene (13), 2,3,4,5,6,7,8-heptaphenyl-1-naphthol (12), 1-bromo-2,3,4,5,6,7,8-heptaphenylnaphthalene (4), and 1-(phenylethynyl)-2,3,4,5,6,7,8-heptaphenylnaphthalene (5) were prepared by a variety of methods, and all but 5 were crystallographically characterized. The attempted Ullmann coupling of 4 to give tetradecaphenyl-1,1'-binaphthyl (3), at both 270 °C and 350 °C, yielded instead 1,2,3,4,5,6-hexaphenylfluoranthene (17) via an intramolecular cyclization reaction. When the alkyne 5 was heated with tetracyclone (6) at 350 °C, 1-(pentaphenylphenyl)-2,3,4,5,6,7,8-heptaphenylnaphthalene (7) was formed in 3 % yield. However, greater amounts of 5,6,7,8,9,14-hexaphenyldibenzo[a,e]pyrene (20, 11 %) and 1,2,3,4,5,6,7-heptaphenylfluoranthene (21, 11 %) were produced, the former by intramolecular cyclization and dehydrogenation of 5 and the latter by an intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction of 5 followed by extrusion of acetylene. The X-ray structure of 7 shows it to be an exceptionally crowded biaryl, and the X-ray structure of 20 shows it to be a saddle shaped polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon.