Tetrakis(5‐tert‐Butyl‐2‐Hydroxyphenyl)Ethene

Tetrakis(2‐hydroxyphenyl)ethene and the more soluble analog tetrakis(5‐tert‐butyl‐ 2‐hydroxyphenyl)ethene are preorganized tetradentate ligands that support the construction of polymetallic coordination complexes of potential importance to coordination chemistry, supramolecular chemistry, and catalysis. These ligands, which contain aryloxy groups organized around an ethylene core, provide a topological alternative to the extensively investigated calixarene ligands, in which four or more aryloxy rings are connected into a ring by ortho‐methylene bridges. This chapter reports the full experimental details of the synthetic procedures, along with the subsequent dealkylation of the methoxy group to give the corresponding tetrakis (2‐hydroxyphenyl)ethene ligands. The new protocol involves the McMurry‐type reductive coupling of 2,2′‐ dialkoxybenzophenones. The chapter discusses the procedure for the preparation of tetrakis(5‐tert‐butyl‐2‐hydroxyphenyl)ethene.