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Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Microwave-assisted Intramolecular Dehydrogenative Diels-Alder Reactions for the Synthesis of Functionalized Naphthalenes/Solvatochromic Dyes
Published on: April 1, 2013
Structure and formation of the fluorescent compound of Lignum nephriticum
A Ulises Acuña1, Francisco Amat-Guerri, Purificación Morcillo
1Instituto de Química-Física Rocasolano, CSIC, Serrano 119, 28006 Madrid, Spain. roculises@iqfr.csic.es
Abstract:
The intense blue fluorescence of the infusion of Lignum nephriticum (Eysenhardtia polystachya), first observed in the sixteenth century, is due to a novel four-ring tetrahydromethanobenzofuro[2,3-d]oxacine which is not present in the plant but is the end product of an unusual, very efficient iterative spontaneous oxidation of at least one of the tree's flavonoids.
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