Interest in the radical chemistry of cyclic polyolefins has prompted us to investigate the arylation of cycloheptatriene, formally written as Ia, but preferably considered to be planar and pseudoaromatic. The copper salt-catalyzed decomposi-(1)(a) W. von E. Doering, G. Laber, R. Vonderwahl, NF Chamberlain and RB Williams, THIS JOURNAL, 78, 5448 (1956);(bj EW Abel, MA Bennett and G. Wilkinson, Proc. Chem. Soc., 152 (1958). tion of ...