In the presence of substoichiometric amounts of Co2(CO)8, internal bisarylalkynes undergo reductive dimerization with good to excellent yields. The Co2(CO)8-induced reactions described are experimentally quite simple and provide a very useful synthetic procedure for the synthesis of tetraphenylbutadienes which exhibit aggregation-induced emission enhancement, i.e., weak emission in good solvents but strong fluorescence in solvents that lead toward formation of aggregates or in the solid state.
Yamuna Ezhumalai, Tsai-Hui Wang, Hsiu-Fu Hsu. Regioselective synthesis of tetraphenyl-1,3-butadienes with aggregation-induced emission. Organic letters. 2015 Feb 6;17(3):536-9
PMID: 25602525
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