We dedicate this paper to Professor Pradeep Kumar of National Chemical Laboratory
(Pune, India) on the occasion of his 60th birthday
An efficient protocol for the synthesis of unsymmetrical aza[7]helicenes has been
developed. The bis-styryl-type substrates for regiospecific photodehydrogenative oxidative
double cyclization to give helicenes were prepared by a one-pot Wittig–Heck sequence
as well as a stepwise procedure. The derivatives were characterized by single-crystal
X-ray diffraction analysis and fluorescence spectroscopy.
Key words
helical compounds - aza[7]helicenes - one-pot synthesis - Wittig reaction - Heck reaction
- photocyclodehydrogenation.