Synthesis and structure of the first per-substituted anthracene host: decakis(cyclopentylthio)anthracene

The title compound, a novel host molecule, has been prepared both from mixtures of unsaturated fluorocarbons related to perfluoro-perhydroanthracene and, in an extension of a remarkable new reaction, perfluoroperhydroanthracene itself. The 1,4-dioxane inclusion compound of this anthracene-based host is triclinic, space group P 1 , with a = 11.826(1), b = 15.297(1), c = 20.280(1) Å, α = 98.77(1), β = 99.85(1), and γ = 95.83(1)°, with two host, and ca. three 1,4-dioxane guest molecules per unit cell. The host molecule occupies a general position in the unit cell and its anthracene core is markedly non-planar; each of the three crystallographically independent six-membered rings possesses a shallow twist-boat conformation. The host's side-chain moieties display an asymmetrical conformational distribution of the abbabaabab type (a = above, b = below, mean core plane).