Synthesis of Tetraalkenylmethane: Building Blocks for Three-Dimensional Hydrocarbon Networks

In this paper, we show a common strategy to synthesize tetraalkenylmethanes, a cross-linker series for building three-dimensional hydrocarbon networks. To demonstrate the feasibility of this method, we have synthesized tetrapentenylmethane. Attempts to synthesize this cross-linker from pentaerythrityl tetrabromide using substitution reactions resulted in the formation of a spiro compound due to intramolecular cyclization. We also show that the difficulty in reactions at the neopentyl carbon site is due to the neopentyl carbanion stability, not the sterics.