5,6-bis(trimethyl silyl)benzo[c]furan: a versatile building block for linear polycyclic aromatic compounds

Benzo[c]furans are a class of interesting compounds. :Being very reactive, they readily undergo Diels-Alder cycloaddition with dienophiles to restore their aromaticity. For this reason, they can be utilized to construct six-m embered ring compounds which are common building blocks of many natural and nonnatural molecules. In connection with our use of silylated furans in th e preparation of polysubstituted furans, we sought to extend our work to in clude silylated benzo[c]furans as well. Herein, we report the synthesis of the title molecule and its further manipulation for the preparation of seve ral silylated linear polynuclear aromatic compounds. (C) 2000 Elsevier Scie nce Ltd. All rights reserved.