Methods are described for the synthesis of a series of functionalized derivatives of 9-butyl-1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8-octahydroacridine (9), a building block for several types of highly preorganized host compounds. A key intermediate is 5-benzylidene-9-butyl-2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8- hexahydroacridin-4 (1 H)-one (23), which can also be used in the syntheses of torands and hydrogen-bonding hexagonal lattice receptors. A tridentate cleft (20), consisting of 2, 2'; 6', ...
