An expedient one-pot synthesis of novel 10-substituted 9-aminophenanthrenes

An efficient synthesis of 9,10-disubstituted phenanthrenes is described in this Letter. These novel useful building blocks were obtained in a one-pot reaction including Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling followed by a Dieckmann-Thorpe ring closure under microwave irradiation. The selection of the appropriate reagents and the optimal reaction conditions to isolate the intermediate biphenyl compound or the final substituted phenanthrenes in high yields will be discussed in this Letter. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.