9, 10-Ethano-9, 10-dihydroanthracene has been functionalised regioselectively to give a range of 2-substituted and 2, 3-disubstituted derivatives. Flash vacuum pyrolysis of these compounds has provided the first general synthesis of 2, 3-disubstituted anthracenes. The observed regioselectivity is in accord with the Finnegan-Streitwieser model of the electronic influence of a strained ring fused to an aromatic ring.
[Ross Kelly; Silva, Richard A.; De Silva, Harshani; Jasmin, Serge; Zhao, Yajun Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2000 , vol. 122, # 29 p. 6935 - 6949]