Treatment of osmapentalyne [Os{≡C-C(COOMe)=CH-C=CH-C(PPh3)=CH-}Cl(PPh3)2]+BF4- with arylamines in the presence of Cs2CO3 produced osmium-bridged polycyclic aromatic complexes. In this reaction, metal carbyne of osmapentalyne was first attacked by nucleophiles, followed by a C-H oxidative addition. The UV-Vis spectra of these osmium-bridged polycyclic aromatic complexes were measured. The result shows that these osmium-bridged polycyclic aromatic complexes have broad absorption in the UV-Vis region up to 650 nm.

Metalla-aromatics are attractive species because they exhibit the properties of both organometallics and aromatics. Reported metal-bridged polycyclic aromatic complexes, as well as Möbius aromatic species, are still rare. Herein, we present the construction of two new metal-bridged polycyclic aromatic frameworks, α-metallapentalenofurans and lactone-fused metallapentalynes, by the reactions of osmapentalyne with terminal aryl alkynes in the presence of H2O or HBF4/H2O, respectively.

Aromaticity is one of the most important concepts in organic chemistry. A variety of metalla-aromatic compounds have been recently prepared and in most of those examples, the metal participates only in a monocyclic ring. In contrast, metal-bridged bicyclic aromatic molecules, in which a metal is shared between two aromatic rings, have been less developed. Herein, we report the first metal-bridged tricyclic aromatic system, in which the metal center is shared by three aromatic five-membered rings. These metalla-aromatics are formed by reaction between osmapentalyne and arene nucleophiles.