Hikaru Watanabe, Kazuki Nakajima, Kento Ekuni, Ryota Edagawa, Yuta Akagi, Yasuhiro Okuda, Kan Wakamatsu, Akihiro Orita
The Sonogashira coupling of 1,3,6,8-tetrabromopyrene with 4-[(–)-β-citronellyloxy]phenylethyne was employed to synthesize 1,3,6,8-tetra[4-(citronellyloxy)phenylethynyl]pyrene. The pyrene derivative catalyzed the reductive desulfonylation of ethenyl sulfones via visible-light irradiation (514 nm green light-emitting diodes) in the presence of i-Pr2NEt. The β-citronellyloxy groups provided the sufficient solubility to the highly π-expanded pyrene catalyst, and their polar oxygen functionalities enabled the easy separation of the catalyst from the products via column chromatography.
Research papers (academic journals)