After Mallory described in 1964 the use of iodine as catalyst for the photochemical cyclisation of stilbenes, this reaction has proven its effectiveness in the synthesis of phenanthrenes, other PAHs and phenacenes with a surprisingly large selection of substituents. The “early age” of the reaction was reviewed by Mallory in 1984in a huge chapter in the Organic Reactions series, but the development has continued. Alternative conditions accommodate more sensitive substituents, and isomers can be favoured by sacrificial substituents. Herein the further developments and applications of this reaction after 1984 are discussed and summarized.

A series of 1,2,3-triazoles coupled diaryl sulfone containing compounds were synthesized by the copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction in benign solvents under ultrasound irradiation. In situ formation of azides from α-bromoketones together with the CuAAC reaction in one pot allowed safe handling and good availability of azides for the development of a small library of compounds. The sonication reduced reaction time and increased yields compared to otherwise same conditions. All synthesized compounds were evaluated for antibacterial, antifungal and antioxidant activities. Compounds 3b, 6b and 9e-9g were found to be the most potent antifungal agents with minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) at 25 μg/mL; moreover other compounds revealed good to moderate antimicrobial activity. Compound 8e showed an excellent antioxidant activity using a DPPH free radical scavenging assay.

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A general, efficient, and regioselective synthesis of a series of hydroxylated 1-methylphenanthrenes 9 by a combined directed ortho metalation (DoM)-Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling-directed remote metalation (DreM) sequence is reported. Diversity to this methodology was achieved by a regioselective DoM rather than DreM reaction, affording more highly substituted phenanthrols ( Table 2 ). Application of the turbo-Grignard reagent (i-PrMgCl·LiCl) in the Ni-catalyzed Corriu-Kumada reaction gave efficient decarbamoylation ( Tables 3 and 4 ). Additional features are the TMS protecting group and halo-induced ipso-desilylation tactics applied to the regioselective synthesis of phenanthrenes ( Scheme 2 ).

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