Improved Access to 1,8-Dichloro-10-(ethynyl)anthracene: A Useful Building Block for (Semi-)rigid Organic Frameworks

Abstract

An easy access to 1,8-dichloro-10-(ethynyl)anthracene is reported, which is widely applicable for building up rigid linkers between two 1,8-dichloroanthracene units. For this, 1,8-dichloroanthren-10(9H)-one was reacted with ethynylmagnesium bromide in the presence of CeCl3; the yield was 65%. This building block was used as a substrate in (cross-)coupling reactions and some examples of linked 1,8-dichloroanthracen-10-yls (e.g., 1,8-bis[(1,8-dichloroanthracen-10-yl)-ethynyl]naphthalene or 1,2-bis[(1,8-dichloroanthracen-10-yl)ethynyl]-benzene) were synthesized in good to moderate yields. Linked 1,8-dichloroanthracen-10-yl derivatives were also synthesized by cross-coupling reactions using 10-bromo-1,8-dichloroanthracene and doubly ethynyl-substituted substrates. Linkers between the 1,8-dichloroanthracene units were: butadiynediyl, dimethylsilyldiethynyl, octa-1,7-diyne-1,8-diyl, propane-1,3-diylbis(dimethylsilyl)diethynyl, benzene-1,2-diethynyl, naphthalene-1,8-diyldiethynyl, and anthracene-1,8-diyldiethynyl. The new anthracene compounds were characterized by NMR spectroscopy, high-resolution mass spectrometry, and, in part, by X-ray diffraction experiments.