Selenium

Rational Design and Synthesis of Unsaturated Se‐Containing Osmacycles with σ‐Aromaticity

Isolation of the simplest 4π three‐membered heterocycles (1H‐azirine, oxirene, thiirene, and selenirene) remains a big challenge due to their π‐antiaromaticity and significant ring strain. Here we demonstrate that the incorporation of a transition‐metal fragment could stabilize the antiaromatic selenirene and pentalene frameworks simultaneously by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Experimental verification leads to the Se‐containing metallapolycycles, osmapentaloselenirenes, with remarkable thermal stability.