This paper is concerned with the synthesis of 1,8,9,16-tetrahydroxytetraphenylene (3a) via copper(II)-mediated oxidative coupling, its resolution to optical antipodes, and its conversion to 1,8,9,16-tetrakis(diphenylphosphino)tetraphenylene (3b). On the basis of these chiral "linear" building blocks, three rodlike chiral complexes, triblock (R,R,R,R)-17 and (S,S,S,S)-20 and pentablock (R,R,R,R,R,R,R,R)-22, were constructed. As a hydrogen bond donor, racemic and optically active 3a was allowed to assemble with linear acceptors to afford highly ordered structures. A 1:1 adduct of 4,4'-bipyridyl and (+/-)-3a exists in a dimeric form of 3a linked by 4,4'-bipyridyl through hydrogen bonds. Pyrazine serves as a short linker between achiral parallel chains each formed by (+/-)-3a, while self-assembly of homochiral 3a into alternate parallel chains occurs in the adduct of 5,5'-dipyrimidine with (+/-)-3a. Self-assembly of (S,S)-3a or (R,R)-3a with 4,4'-dipyridyl yielded a packing of chiral double helical chains formed by chiral tetrol 3a molecules. A novel chiral ligand, (S,S)-23, derived from 3a was used in the asymmetric catalytic hydrogenation of alpha-acetamidocinnamate, yielding up to 99.0% ee and 100% conversion.

This paper is concerned with the synthesis and reactions of enantiopure 1,8,9,16-tetraethynyltetraphenylene (3). We obtained 3 in 34% yield through four steps starting from 1,8,9,16-tetrahydroxytetraphenylene (2a) via a functional group interconversion strategy. On the basis of this chiral "helical" building block, three rigid helical macrocycles 14, 15, and 22 were designed. Complexes 14 and 15 were constructed via coordination-driven self-assembly with platinum(II) complexes 8 and 9b, while 22 cannot be obtained successfully. Then macrocycle 28 was designed on the structural basis of 22 to which octyl chains were introduced, in the hope of improving the solubility of the complex. Macrocycle 28 was finally formed and was characterized by NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and electrospray mass spectrometry. For the enantiopure 15 and 28, circular dichroism (CD) spectra also exhibited chiral properties. Complexes 27 and 28 both exhibited an intense emission band at 621 nm in acetonitrile at 298 K upon excitation at λ > 420 nm.