Palladium-Catalyzed Intramolecular C-H Activation: A Synthetic Approach towards Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

A simple and convenient synthetic protocol for the construction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons has been developed. A variety of phenanthrene, benzo[c]phenanthrene and chrysene derivatives was synthesized via Pd-catalyzed intramolecular C-H activation followed by acid-catalyzed water elimination.