Self-Assembly of Quinodimethanes through Covalent Bonds: A Novel Principle for the Synthesis of Functional Macrocycles.
A multiplication of functional units was accomplished in a simple fashion by the tetramerization of a quinodimethane. This principle is demonstrated by the convergent construction of a macrocyclic molecule with 16 ferrocenes and a macrocyclic molecule with 16 dendritic units at the periphery of the molecule (see scheme). FG=functional group.