Enhancement of Dissymmetry Factors Through Axial Elongation of Hetero[ <i>n</i> ]helicenes

ABSTRACT Helicenes are attractive emitters of circularly polarized light, yet strategies to enhance their luminescence dissymmetry factor ( g lum ) remain underdeveloped. Herein, we report a scalable, facile synthetic route to hetero[9]helicenes utilizing a benzofuran scaffolding strategy. This efficient one‐pot protocol provides access to the hetero[9]helicenes at gram scale, enabling progressive axial elongation to hetero[12]‐ and hetero[15]helicenes. Structural characterization by NMR and single‐crystal xX‐ray diffraction confirms increasing helical distortion and reduced helical pitch upon elongation. Chiroptical investigations reveal a pronounced enhancement of both absorption ( g abs ) and emission ( g lum ) dissymmetry factors with increasing ring count. Notably, annulation with a three‐ring extension via a naphtofuran unit yields a twofold increase in g lum , reaching 1.95 × 10 −2 at 475 nm for the [15]helicene. TD‐DFT calculations reproduce these trends, revealing that the enhancement originates from a systematic decrease in the electric transition dipole moment while the magnetic transition dipole moment remains constant, thereby increasing the relative magnetic contribution to the S 1 → S 0 transition as well as the angle between the dipole moments. These findings establish axial elongation as a robust design principle for amplifying chiroptical responses in helicenes.

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Publication Details

Journal
Angewandte Chemie International Edition
Published
2026-08-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.2703281
Primary Topic
Synthesis and Properties of Aromatic Compounds
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Enhancement of Dissymmetry Factors Through Axial Elongation of Hetero[ n ]helicenes

Mathias Hermann, Yann Lie, Michael Pittelkow, Kurt V. Mikkelsen et al.
Angewandte Chemie International Edition
Synthesis and Properties of Aromatic Compounds
article

Enhancement of Dissymmetry Factors Through Axial Elongation of Hetero[ n ]helicenes

Mathias Hermann, Yann Lie, Michael Pittelkow, Kurt V. Mikkelsen, Christoffer Bræstrup, Christoffer Warming, Jeppe S. Mogensen, Georg I. Junker
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Helicenes are attractive emitters of circularly polarized light, yet strategies to enhance their luminescence dissymmetry factor ( g lum ) remain underdeveloped. Herein, we report a scalable, facile synthetic route to hetero[9]helicenes utilizing a benzofuran scaffolding strategy. This efficient one‐pot protocol provides access to the hetero[9]helicenes at gram scale, enabling progressive axial elongation to hetero[12]‐ and hetero[15]helicenes. Structural characterization by NMR and single‐crystal xX‐ray diffraction confirms increasing helical distortion and reduced helical pitch upon elongation. Chiroptical investigations reveal a pronounced enhancement of both absorption ( g abs ) and emission ( g lum ) dissymmetry factors with increasing ring count. Notably, annulation with a three‐ring extension via a naphtofuran unit yields a twofold increase in g lum , reaching 1.95 × 10 −2 at 475 nm for the [15]helicene. TD‐DFT calculations reproduce these trends, revealing that the enhancement originates from a systematic decrease in the electric transition dipole moment while the magnetic transition dipole moment remains constant, thereby increasing the relative magnetic contribution to the S 1 → S 0 transition as well as the angle between the dipole moments. These findings establish axial elongation as a robust design principle for amplifying chiroptical responses in helicenes.

Angewandte Chemie International Edition
University of Copenhagen (DK)
U.S. Department of Energy, Københavns Universitet, Novo Nordisk, Novo Nordisk Fonden, Office of Science
Openalex Percentile: Top 18%
Synthesis and Properties of Aromatic Compounds
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