Ruiying Zhang, Lingding Wang, Yaohuan Mei, Minggang Li, Funing Zhao, Ke-Yin Ye, Lili Xie, Yuanming Li
A series of 2,7-dihalo-1,8-diarylphenanthrenes were synthesized via acid-catalyzed bicyclization. Using this phenanthrene as a link block, a one-pot, three-component Suzuki-Miyaura coupling followed by Scholl cyclodehydrogenation afforded fluorene-fused conjugated ladder molecules (CLMs) with armchair/fjord/cove edges and lengths up to 4.59 nm. Extended π-conjugation narrows the bandgap and raises the HOMO level, establishing 1,8-diarylphenanthrene as a versatile link block for CLMs.