Highly selective synthesis of triptycene o-quinone derivatives and their optical and electrochemical properties

A convenient and efficient method for the selective synthesis of a series of triptycene o-quinone derivatives is described. The triptycene o-quinones, especially the ones containing the methoxy group(s) (electron donor) and the o-quinone group(s) (electron acceptor) simultaneously, show interesting intramolecular CT interactions and electrochemical properties. Moreover, DFT calculations display that introducing a strong electron-donor group into triptycene o-quinone results in an increasing of the HOMO energy level, which subsequently decreases the HOMO–LUMO energy gap.