The Perkin Strategy for the Synthesis of Large Carboxy‐Substituted Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds

An efficient and versatile synthetic approach has been developed for the synthesis of large carboxy‐substituted polycyclic arenes. This strategy relies on Perkin reactions between arylacetic and arylglyoxylic acids for the formation of flexible precursors. A subsequent rigidification step, by catalyst‐ or light‐induced intramolecular cyclization reactions, then yields fully condensed polycyclic aromatic compounds. Protection and deprotection techniques have been developed to allow the controlled assembly of a large number of building blocks. This method can now be applied to the formation of planar or non‐planar, linear or macrocyclic species of various sizes.