Strain-Promoted Reactivity of Alkyne-Containing Cycloparaphenylenes

A new class of macrocyclic angle-strained alkynes whose size and reactivity can be precisely tuned by modular organic synthesis is disclosed. Detailed analysis of the size-dependent structural and electronic properties provides evidence for considerable distortion of the alkyne units incorporated into the cycloparaphenylene (CPP)-derived macrocycles. The remarkable increase of the alkyne reactivity with decreasing macrocycle size in [2+2]cycloaddition-retrocyclization was investigated by joint experimental and theoretical studies and the thermodynamic and kinetic parameters that govern this reaction were unraveled. Additionally, even the largest, least strained macrocycle in this series was found to undergo strain-promoted azide-alkyne cycloaddition (SPAAC) efficiently under mild conditions, thereby paving the way to the application of alkyne-containing CPPs as fluorescent "clickable" macrocyclic architectures.