Synthesis and structure of the first per-substituted anthracene host: Decakis(cyclopentylthio)anthracene

The title compound, a novel host molecule, has been prepared both from mixtures of unsaturated fluorocarbons related to perfluoroperhydroanthracene and, in an extension of a remarkable new reaction, perfluoroperhydroanthracene itself. The 1,4-dioxane inclusion compound of this anthracene-based host is triclinic, space group PI, with a=11.826(l), b=15.297(1), c=20.280(l) Å, α=98.77(1), β = 99.85(1), and γ = 95.83(1)°, with two host, and ca. three 1,4-dioxane guest molecules per unit cell. The host molecule occupies a general position in the unit cell and its anthracene core is markedly non-planar; each of the three crystallographically independent six-membered rings possesses a shallow twist-boat conformation. The host's side-chain moieties display an asymmetrical conformational distribution of the abbabaabab type (a = above, b = below, mean core plane).