A NEW BUILDING-BLOCK TECHNIQUE BASED ON CYCLOADDITION CHEMISTRY FOR THE REGIOSPECIFIC LINKING OF ALICYCLIC SUB-UNITS AS A ROUTE TO LARGE, CUSTOM-FUNCTIONALIZED STRUCTURES

A new building BLOCK approach to synthesis has been developed where fu nctionalised norbornenes (BLOCK A) are coupled with functionalised cyc lobutene epoxides (BLOCK B) to produce A + B structures of defined geo metry; use of a dual (spacer) BLOCK allows the formation of large stru ctures where crown ether, ligand and redox centres are incorporated in similar or mixed pairings.