Pentiptycene chemistry: new pentiptycene building blocks derived from pentiptycene quinones.

[reaction: see text] An efficient synthesis of new middle-ring disubstituted pentiptycenes from pentiptycene quinone is reported. One of the substituents is a bromo, iodo, amino, nitro, cyano, or formyl group and the other is a hydroxy or alkoxy group. These disubstituted pentiptycenes are potential building blocks for constructing novel pentiptycene-incorporated systems.