Lewis Acid Assisted Diels–Alder Reaction with Regio- and Stereoselectivity: Anti-1,4-Adducts with Rigid Scaffolds and Their Application in Explosives Sensing

Unusual anti-1,4-adducts of anthracene derivatives and anti-adducts of inert arenes with rigid scaffolds have been obtained via AlCl3-assisted Diels–Alder reaction in good to excellent yields under mild conditions. Further derivation of 1,4-adducts gave π-conjugated polymers which could act as sensors of explosive species. This highly efficient synthesis method provides versatile approaches to solid-state emissive π-conjugated polymers.