Despite the significant achievements in dearomatization and C–H functionalization of arenes, the arene ring-opening remains a largely unmet challenge and is underdeveloped due to the high bond dissociation energy and strong resonance stabilization energy inherent in aromatic compounds. Herein, we demonstrate a novel carbene assisted strategy for arene ring-opening. The understanding of the mechanism by our DFT calculations will stimulate wide application of bulk arene chemicals for the synthesis of value-added polyconjugated chain molecules. Various aryl azide derivatives now can be directly converted into valuable polyconjugated enynes, avoiding traditional synthesis including multistep unsaturated precursors, poor selectivity control, and subsequent transition-metal catalyzed cross-coupling reactions. The simple conditions required were demonstrated in the late-stage modification of complex molecules and fused ring compounds. This chemistry expands the horizons of carbene chemistry and provides a novel pathway for arene ring-opening.

中文翻译：

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卡宾辅助芳烃开环

尽管在芳烃的脱芳构化和C-H官能化方面取得了重大成就，但由于芳香族化合物固有的高键解离能和强共振稳定能，芳烃开环仍然是一个很大程度上尚未解决的挑战，并且尚未得到充分发展。在这里，我们展示了一种新颖的卡宾辅助芳烃开环策略。通过我们的 DFT 计算对该机制的理解将促进散装芳烃化学品在合成增值多共轭链分子中的广泛应用。各种芳基叠氮化物衍生物现在可以直接转化为有价值的聚共轭烯炔，避免了传统的合成，包括多步不饱和前体、较差的选择性控制以及随后的过渡金属催化的交叉偶联反应。复杂分子和稠环化合物的后期修饰证明了所需的简单条件。这种化学扩展了卡宾化学的视野，并为芳烃开环提供了新的途径。