Soluble and Stable Zethrenebis(carboximide) and Its Quinone

Significance

Despite first being synthesized decades ago by Clar and co-workers, zethrene only recently began attracting major interest due to its potentially interesting optoelectronic properties. Poor air and light sensitivity of unsubstituted zethrene would not have aided its cause. A more convenient route to zethrene was found in the 1960’s during attempts to synthesize and isolate the unstable tetradehydrodinaphtho[10]annulene, a precursor of zethrene. This was not successfully done until last year.