Macrocyclic Oligo(phenylacetylenes) and Oligo(phenyldiacetylenes)

Abstract

The following is a comprehensive survey of the chemistry of macrocycles comprised entirely of phenyl and acetylenic moieties. Although over four decades old, this area of research has come into its own just in the last few years. Widespread interest in the field has been spurred by recent discoveries utilizing these compounds as ligands for organometallic chemistry, hosts for binding guest molecules, models of synthetic carbon allotropes, and precursors to fullerenes and other carbon-rich materials. This review will discuss the preparation of a tremendous variety of novel structures and detail the development of versatile synthetic methods for macrocycle construction.