Abstract A wide variety of saturated and unsaturated concave 1, 10-phenanthrolines 2 and 4 have been synthesized in good yields starting from dichloro-1, 10-phenanthroline 14. In the three step synthesis, Suzuki couplings of bis-ortho-substituted boronic acids were used to introduce two different or two identical aryl bridgeheads into the 2-and 9-positions of the 1, 10-phenanthroline (yields⩾ 70%). The resulting diaryl-1, 10-phenanthrolines 3, ...
