Facile, rapid, and high-yield synthesis of pillar[5]arene from commercially available reagents and its X-ray crystal structure.

We monitored the progress of formation of dimethoxypillar[5]arene by size-exclusion chromatography. Surprisingly, the cyclization reaction completely finished in just 3 min. By improving the reaction conditions and purification process, we successfully obtained dimethoxypillar[5]arene in a short time and in high yield (71%) from commercially available reagents. By improving the deprotection reaction of the methoxy moieties, pillar[5]arene was isolated quantitatively. Single crystal X-ray analysis confirmed the structure of pillar[5]arene in the solid state.