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The preparation of functional macrocycles via dynamic covalent chemistry (DCC) is an attractive synthetic strategy due to its thermodynamic control over the products. The use of alkyne metathesis has emerged as an efficient DCC method for synthesis of conjugated arylene-ethynylene macrocycles (AEMs), but the scope has been mostly limited to rigid and angle-persistent benzenoid-based structures. Introducing functional groups to macrocycle backbones increases flexibility by relaxing conformational constraints, which often leads to broad product distributions. Here we expand the scope of alkyne metathesis to functionalized macrocycles by systematically exploring how conformation and connectivity interplay to affect product distribution. With a divergent approach, we prepared a series of conjugated polymer analogues and synthesized the corresponding macrocycles via depolymerization. The importance of conformational constraints was reinforced by the results, but it was discovered that minimizing the monomer’s torsional axes provides high yields of functional macrocycles, even those with increased flexibility. We believe that this strategy is applicable in other areas of DCC and self-assembly to enable efficient preparation of organic materials with flexible functional groups.

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BACKGROUND Clinical workup and treatment guidelines have been published by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) to ensure patients are treated uniformly and appropriately. This study sought to retrospectively review patients with a new diagnosis of sarcoma who were treated in a National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated center and determine compliance rates with guidelines for sarcoma. AIM To evaluate our compliance of NCCN sarcoma guidelines at a major NCI designated center and to report instances of deviation that could be used for future studies to improve patient care. METHODS Data was collected retrospectively as an internal review and quality assessment of 35 newly diagnosed and treated patients. Demographic data were recorded and information concerning whether patients had appropriate imaging, biopsy and management. Variables of interest were expressed as raw numbers and percentages. RESULTS Primary site imaging was obtained in 100% of cases. Chest and full-body imaging were obtained in 97% and 100% of indicated cases, respectively. Tissue was obtained preoperatively in 97% of cases. Imaging was reviewed at multidisciplinary Treatment Planning Conference (TPC) in 97% of cases. Pathology was reviewed in 94% of cases in TPC. Both tumor, node, metastasis staging and plan of care were reviewed in 100% of cases in TPC. Treatment guidelines were followed in 94% of cases reviewed. CONCLUSION This study evaluated the workup and treatment provided by a single NCI designated sarcoma service to a series of patients with pathologies defined with the NCCN sarcoma treatment guidelines. Although adherence to NCCN was reported to be very high future prospective studies are required to investigate whether NCCN guidelines impact patient outcomes.