Researchers at Lanzhou University and Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics (LICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have developed an intermolecular condensation reaction of 1,3,5-triarylenynols catalyzed by copper.

This reaction is a straightforward method for the synthesis of highly conjugated aromatic 1H-cyclopenta[b]naphthalenes. These products are extremely useful in materials chemistry.

As multifunctional molecules, indene moieties are key substructures in both targets and building blocks for various biologically active molecules1 and functional materials, such as fluorescent materials. Consequently, much attention has been paid to the synthesis of indene derivatives. The one-step synthesis of highly conjugated carbon-rich indenes, π-electron-rich species which have special chemical and physical properties, has been rarely reported.

The work has received support from the NSF and National Program on Key Basic Research Project of China (973 Program). The findings have been published in Org. Biomol. Chem. (Org. Biomol. Chem., 2011, 9, 7461–7467).

Org. Biomol. Chem.Paper