“…[10] The challenge of developing efficient routes to helicenes that are amenable to scale-up has inspired many imaginative approaches, [11,12] including strategies based on Diels-Alder cycloadditions, [13] carbenoid insertions, [14] radical cyclizations, and metal-mediated cycloisomerizations. [15,16] Herein, we report a short and efficient entry to helicenes, azahelicenes, and phenanthrenes in which the use of halo and alkoxy substituents to control both the stereochemical course of Wittig reactions and the regiochemical course of homolytic aromatic substitution reactions is a key feature.…”