Wittig reaction of cyclobisbiphenylenecarbonyl.

Cyclobisbiphenylenecarbonyl (CBBC) represents a readily available chiral figure-eight macrocycle containing two carbonyl groups. However, the transformation of the carbonyl groups has been unexplored. Herein, we conducted the Wittig reaction of CBBC with methylenetriphenylphosphorane to furnish two chiral macrocycles containing one or two exocyclic olefin units. Owing to the transformation of carbonyl groups, the resulting products exhibit several unique physical and chemical properties: (1) the enhancement of configurational stability, (2) the appearance of fluorescence, and (3) the reductive carbon-carbon-bond formation between carbonyl and alkene units.