Hydrocarbons driving forces, general

Whereas the fulvalenes 1-6 are relatively unstable hydrocarbons and therefore largely of theoretical interest, their heteroatom analogs demand considerable attention in synthetic chemistry and material sciences. Tlie general principle of heterocyclic chemistry to relate heterocyclic compounds to carbocyclic ones was the driving force for the synthesis and their application to heteroful-valenes. Numerous heterocyclic derivatives iso-rr-electronic with, for example, heptafulvalene 3 were accessible in which pairs of carbon atoms linked by double bonds were replaced by heteroatoms capable of contributing two tt-electrons. By this principle, the well-known tetrathiafulvalene and its derivatives have been synthesized successfully (Scheme 2). 

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