Synthesis of Rationally Halogenated Buckybowls by Chemoselective Aromatic C−F Bond Activation

Halogenated buckybowls or bowl‐shaped polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (BS‐PAHs) are key building blocks for the “bottom‐up” synthesis of various carbon‐based nanomaterials with outstanding potential in different fields of technology. The current state of the art provides quite a limited number of synthetic pathways to BS‐PAHs; moreover, none of these approaches show high selectivity and tolerance of functional groups. Herein we demonstrate an effective route to BS‐PAHs that includes directed intramolecular aryl–aryl coupling through C−F bond activation. The coupling conditions were found to be completely tolerant toward aromatic C−Br and C−Cl bonds, thus allowing the facile synthesis of rationally halogenated buckybowls with an unprecedented level of selectivity. This finding opens the way to functionalized BS‐PAH systems that cannot be obtained by alternative methods.