Distorted arenes by Scholl cyclizations, towards twisted carbon nanoribbons

• Main Author: Pradhan, Anirban
• Language: English
• Published: Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux I 2013
• Subjects: [CHIM:OTHE] Chemical Sciences/Other; [CHIM:OTHE] Chimie/Autre; Polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAC); Carbon nanoribbons; Helicenes; Scholl reaction; Catalyzed cross-coupling reactions
• Online Access: http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01070635; http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/01/07/06/35/PDF/PRADHAN_ANIRBAN_2013.pdf

Carbon nanoribbons are today of great interest as graphene segments with modulable electronic properties. Whilst top down techniques give giant ribbons, bottom-up organic synthesis may lead to exactly designed nanoribbons of controlled geometries. The Scholl reaction is a precious chemical tool for that purpose since it yields efficiently to the graphitization of long and flexible polyphenylene precursors.Surprisingly, twisted structures may be obtained preferentially even if less crowded isomers are also feasible. It has been shown that, against all expectation, even a strong steric hindrance has no marked effect on regioselectivity and highly twisted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are sometimes preferentially formed, whereas their flat and more symmetrical isomers are only obtained in minority. Highly twisted structures such as hexabenzotriphenylene (HBTP) may then be obtained very easily from flexible polyphenylene precursors.After discovering this unexpected regioselectivity, we used it on purpose to form polyhelicenic species. Attempts to prepared hexaphenanthrotriphenylene (HPTP) were unsuccessful due to reactivity issues when synthesizing the corresponding flexible precursors. By using a new versatile strategy leading to an advanced common precursor, several C3-symmetrical flexible substrates have been synthesized and submitted to Scholl reaction. The expected [6]helicenes were not obtained and rearranged products were formed instead, but TMS-bearing HBTP could be prepared, as well as a hexabenzocoronene (HBC) which exceptionnal solubility is due to the distortion of the aromatic core under the effect of bulky tert-butyl substituents in bay regions.The easily formed [5]helicene fragment has been incorporated in the design of twisted carbon nanoribbons that would be composed of a succession of such motifs. As a test reaction, the corresponding monomer and dimer have been synthesized with an excellent yield and fully characterized. Their X-ray structures have even been determined, giving interesting information about their configuration. A more general strategy has then been developed and optimized for the systematic synthesis of longer oligomers of twisted nanoribbons. Using this technique, the trimer and tetramer have been synthesized and characterized by mass spectrometry.