Triple aryne-tetrazine reaction enabling rapid access to a new class of polyaromatic heterocycles

One of the most challenging goals of modern synthetic chemistry is to develop multi-step reactions for rapid and efficient access to complex molecules. We report a triple aryne-tetrazine reaction that enables rapid access to a new class of polyaromatic heterocycles. This new reaction, which couples diverse reactivity modes between simple aryne and tetrazine starting materials, proceeds in a single operation and takes less than 5 minutes in air with no metal catalyst.