Benzotriazolophanes—New Class of Novel Cyclophanes

Alkylation of benzotriazole with various xylenyl dibromides (o, m, p) or 4,4′-bis(bromethyl)biphenyl in two steps afforded the benzotriazolophanes 2 or 3. Similarly alkylation of benzotriazole with 4,4″-bis(bromomethyl)-1,1′:3′,1″-terphenyl in two steps gave the unprecedented benzotriazolophane 4a. By similar alkylation procedure, cyclophanes 4b, 4c and 4d were obtained from the substituted dibromides 6b, 6c and 6d, respectively. Novel cross-linked benzotriazolophane 5 was obtained by using the tetrabromide 9 as the spacer unit.