Imposing Curvature on a Polyarene by Intramolecular Palladium-Catalyzed Arylation Reactions:  A Simple Synthesis of Dibenzo[a,g]corannulene

Palladium catalysis has been found to offer an effective solution-phase alternative to gas-phase flash vacuum pyrolysis as a method for converting the planar ring system of 7,10-di(2-bromophenyl)fluoranthene (4) to that of the C₂₈H₁₄ bowl-shaped fullerene fragment dibenzo[a,g]corannulene (5).