Despite the frequent presence of para-cyclophane scaffolds in natural products and bioactive molecules, their synthesis remains challenging. Now a series of para-cyclophanes bearing bent 1,4-disubstituted benzene subunits with a high degree of distortion are readily prepared between cyclic tertiary amines and aryne intermediates via a N-arylation–ring-expansion [5,5]-sigmatropic rearrangement process.
- Zhonghong Chen
- Weihao Yang
- Yang Li
