Efficient synthesis and characterization of dibenzo[a,m]rubicenes and tetrabenzo[a,f,r,m]rubicenes.

We report an efficient synthesis of dibenzo[a,m]rubicenes and tetrabenzo[a,f,r,m]rubicenes involving ICl-mediated benzannulation of 1,4-diphenyl-2,5-dialkynylbenzene 5 as the key step. Preliminary data on the photophysical properties of these new indeno-PAHs are reported.