Aromatic hydrocarbon belts (AHCBs) have fascinated scientists for over half a century because of their aesthetically appealing structures and potential applications in the field of carbon nanotechnology. One of the enduring challenges in synthesizing AHCBs is how do we cope with the build-up of energy in the highly strained structures during their synthesis? Successful preparations of AHCBs offer the prospect of providing well-defined templates for the growth of uniform single-walled carbon nanotubes-a long-standing interest in nanocarbon science. In this Review, we revisit the protracted historical background involving the rational design and synthesis of AHCBs and highlight some of the more recent breakthroughs, with emphasis being placed on the different strategies that have been used for building up curved and fused benzenoid rings into molecular belts. We also discuss the scientific challenges in this fledgling field and provide some pointers as to what could transpire in years to come.

Aromatic hydrocarbon belts.

Strain has a unique and sometimes unpredictable impact on the properties and reactivity of molecules. To thoroughly describe strain in molecules, a computational tool that relates strain energy to reactivity by localizing and quantifying strain was developed. Strain energy is calculated local to every coordinate in the molecule and areas of higher strain are shown experimentally to be more reactive. Not only does this tool directly compare strain energy in parts of the same molecule, but it also computes total strain to give a full picture of molecular strain energy. It is freely available to the public on GitHub under the name StrainViz and much of the workflow is automated to simplify use for non-experts. Unique insight into the reactivity of curved aromatic molecules and strained alkyne bioorthogonal reagents is described within.

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Strain visualization for strained macrocycles

The synthesis, structure, and properties of methylene-bridged [6]cycloparaphenylene ([6]CPP), a nonalternant aromatic belt, are described. This belt-shaped methylene-bridged [6]CPP, in which each phenylene unit is tethered to its neighbors by methylene bridges, was constructed through 6-fold intramolecular nickel-mediated aryl-aryl coupling of triflate-functionalized pillar[6]arene in 18% isolated yield. As compared to the analogous [6]CPP, the methylene bridges coplanarize neighboring paraphenylene units and enhance the degree of π-conjugation, which results in a significant decrease in energy gap. Moreover, the incorporation of small molecules in the defined pocket of methylene-bridged [6]CPP makes it an attractive supramolecular architecture. Methylene-bridged [6]CPP is characterized by high internal strain energy reaching 110.2 kcal mol-1, attributed to its restricted structure. This work not only exhibits an efficient strategy to construct a new family of aromatic belt, but also showcases their properties, which combine the merits of CPPs and pillararenes.

A Nonalternant Aromatic Belt: Methylene-Bridged [6]Cycloparaphenylene Synthesized from Pillar[6]arene

The development of carbon nanobelts and related belt-shaped polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons has gained momentum in recent years. This Minireview focuses on the synthetic strategies used in constructing these aesthetically appealing molecular nanocarbons. Examples of carbon nanobelts and related belt-shaped polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons reported in recent years as well as some representative synthetic attempts in earlier times are discussed.

Synthetic Strategies of Carbon Nanobelts and Related Belt-Shaped Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons.

We report in this communication the synthesis, structure, and application of a novel type of hydrocarbon belts. Starting from inexpensive and easily available resorcin[n]arenes, a closing-all-fjords strategy featuring exhaustive triflation of phenolic hydroxyl groups followed by consecutively the transition-metal-catalyzed vinylation and intramolecular olefin metathesis allowed facile construction of belt[n]arene[n]tropilidenes (n = 4, 6), which adopt double-stranded macrocyclic belt structures with unique truncated cone cavities. Selective hydrogenation reactions of olefin and benzene subunits led to diverse hydrocarbon belts with varied structures. Moreover, the resulting molecular belts acted as synthetic host materials to include selectively small molecules such as nitromethane and p-xylene.

Hydrocarbon Belts with Truncated Cone Structures.

A belt-shaped [8]cycloparaphenylene (CPP) and an enantioenriched Mobius-shaped [10]CPP have been synthesized by high-yielding rhodium-catalyzed intramolecular cyclotrimerizations of a cyclic dodecayne and a pentadecayne, respectively. This Mobius-shaped [10]CPP possesses stable chirality and isolated with high enantiomeric purity. It is evident from the reaction Gibbs energy calculation that the above irreversible cyclotrimerizations are highly exothermic; therefore establishing that the intramolecular alkyne cyclotrimerization is a powerful route to strained cyclic molecular strips.

Atsuya Nakajima

Papers

Synthesis of Belt- and Möbius-Shaped Cycloparaphenylenes by Rhodium-Catalyzed Alkyne Cyclotrimerization