The highly substituted mono‐aryl/alkylthio‐(hetero)acenes prepared in this study have been found to be thermally more stable (Tdecomp.=331–354 °C) than the known di‐aryl/alkylthio‐substituted acenes by an average of 25 °C. They are also much more photostable at 254 and 365 nm (in both argon and air) than the parent anthracene and other reported anthracenes. The most photostable aryl/alkylthio‐anthracenes at 254 nm were found to be 60–70 (in air) and 130 (in argon) times more stable in solution than the unsubstituted anthracene, and much more stable than known EDG/EWG‐substituted anthracenes (EDG=electron‐donating group, EWG=electron‐withdrawing group) with an extended aromatic core. Furthermore, the acenes showed significantly higher photostability at 365 nm in both air and argon. The anthracenes were obtained by the novel thio‐Friedel–Crafts/Bradsher cyclization reaction of hitherto unknown [o‐(1,3‐dithian‐2‐yl)aryl](aryl)methyl thioethers. The developed approach provides a general access to mono‐aryl/alkylthio‐substituted (hetero)acene frameworks containing at least three fused (hetero)aromatic rings. The characteristic feature of this approach, which leads to highly substituted acenes, is that the substituents, unlike in other methods, may be introduced at an early stage of the synthesis. DFT and TD‐DFT calculations confirmed the stabilizing role of the aryl/alkylthio substituent in the mono‐aryl/alkylthio‐substituted anthracenes, which are the most stable anthracenes prepared to date. Their high photostability is mainly due to the quenching of singlet oxygen by the acene and the quenching of the acene S1 state by molecular oxygen.
This work presents an efficient synthesis of bis(dibromomethyl)benzenes and a bis(dibromomethyl)thiophene as precursors of aromatic dialdehydes by bromination of dimethyl-substituted arenes under various reaction conditions (yields up to 99%). Several new variants of this reaction, including the use of N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) and bromine, and various solvents to replace carbon tetrachloride, benzene and carbon disulfide, were also tested. In the optimised protocols, the inconvenient solvents were replaced by 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE) and/or acetonitrile. In the DCE protocols, we reduced reaction times 24-32-fold, reduced the amount of NBS a fewfold and lowered power consumption relative to the literature protocols. The procedures also allowed elimination of long-lasting incandescent irradiation (100-500 W). The replacement of NBS by bromine led to a further reduction in the amount of brominating agent. The obtained bromo derivatives were efficiently converted into the corresponding dialdehydes (90-96%), which in turn are useful in materials chemistry.
The present work describes the first use of ultrasounds in the Bradsher cyclisation of activated and non-activated ortho-formyl diarylmethanes. This reaction is also the first example of electrophilic, aromatic cyclisation assisted by ultrasounds which leads to pure polycyclic, fused aromatic hydrocarbons containing 3 and 4 fused rings in excellent yields. The reaction proceeds not only in aqueous but also in non-aqueous media at milder conditions (room temperature) and in much shorter reaction times than in conventional protocols.
While few studies show only symmetrical and poorly mono-SOn (n = 0–2) substituted acenes, in this study, we present a synthesis of a new group of unsymmetrical, significantly substituted derivatives, which revealed unique photophysical properties. Both sulfides (S), sulfoxides (SO) and sulfones (SO2) showed very high photochemical stabilities, unusual for these groups, during UV-irradiation at 254/365 nm (air O2 and Ar), which was higher than any found in the literature. For the (S)/(SO) series (254 nm), the stabilities of 80–519 min. (air O2 and Ar) were found. At 365 nm, stabilities of 124—812 min./(air O2) for (S)/(SO) and higher for (SO2) were observed. Photoluminescence lifetimes of (SOn) of the lower anthryl symmetry remained in the following order: (SO2) < (S) < (SO); those with full symmetry were in the following order: (S) < (SO) < (SO2). The enhanced photostability was explained with DFT/MS/Hammett’s constants, which showed the leading role of the SOn groups in stabilization of HOMO/LUMO frontier orbitals. The SOn (n = 0–2) substituted acenes turned out to be tunable violet/blue/green emitters by oxidation of S atoms and the introduction of rich substitution.
We present a successful deoxygenation reaction of ortho-1,3-dithianylaryl(aryl)methanols which enables a selective removal of the secondary hydroxy group in presence of the 1,3-dithianyl moiety under reductive conditions. This reaction proceeds well with ZnI2/Na(CN)BH3 in dichloroethane or benzene for both unsubstituted and substituted aryls (by electron-rich groups). This is leading to formyl-protected diarylmethanes with potential application in the synthesis of new pharmaceuticals and optoelectronic materials. This synthetic approach gives an access to a wide variety of functionalized ortho-1,3-dithianylaryl(aryl)methanes in 26–95% yields and is recommended for the substrates containing sulfur atoms, for which transition metal-induced reactions fail.
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