SYNTHESIS AND INVESTIGATIONS OF ENETETRAYNES

Several enetetrayne containing compounds have been synthesized and their chemistry explored vis-a-vis the Bergman cycloaromatization. With one exception the compounds were unreactive along this pathway. AM1 calculations were performed in order to gain further insights into these reactions. The results indicate that the strain of constraining the resulting benzodiyne in a small ring raises the energy of the transition state of the initial Bergman reaction.