Triptycene is the first member of a large series of compounds for which we have coined the general term “iptycenes”. The prefix (tri, pent, etc.) indicates the number of separated arene planes. By fusing from one to six 9, 10-anthradiyl moieties on the triptycene framework, one can derive a first generation of iptycenes (Table 1). Of these, only 3, 4, 8 and a substituted 2 are known; the remainder provide a synthetic challenge. Potentially interesting practical ...
