Olympicene, as introduced in this blog post last year, resembles a certain logo associated with the worlds biggest sporting event. Is it recognizable? I’d say so!
The chemical structure of Olympicene
Last year one of the editorial board for ChemSpider SyntheticPages (CSSP), Professor Peter Scott from the University of Warwick, started a discussion with colleagues at the university regarding how to synthesise the compound. The intention was to publish all steps in the synthesis to the CSSP platform. With “the Games” just around the corner, how has the little marathon synthesis progressed so far? How close is the group to completing their work? If you check out the steps on CSSP, one by one, you will see the progress…all syntheses are reported by Anish Mistry from the Fox Group at Warwick University.
Step 1 of the Synthesis of Olympicene on ChemSpider SyntheticPages
Step 2: Hydrogenation of Ethyl 3-(1-pyrenyl)acrylate
Step 3: Hydrolysis of Ethyl 3-(1-pyrenyl)propanoate
Step 4: Chlorination of a carboxylic acid
Step 5: Friedel Crafts cylisation of 3-(1-Pyrenyl)propanoyl chloride
Step 6 of the Synthesis of Olympicene on ChemSPider SyntheticPages
If you check out Step 6 you will see just how close the group is to completing the synthesis. Then it will be on to the analytical work. We are looking forward to hosting the results of the analytical work on the ChemSpider page. Watch this space!
