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World desk2 min

2017 Acene Synthesis Set a Record for Twisted Molecules

A 2017 synthesis produced decatwistacene, a ten-ring molecule with about 170° of overall end-to-end torsion—the largest reported for a twistacene at the time.
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In 2017, chemists synthesized decatwistacene, a ten-ring acene whose overall end-to-end torsion measured about 170° in single-crystal X-ray analyses. The paper described it as the longest twistacene and its angle as the largest then reported for the class—not as a verified record today.

What the researchers made

Wei Fan and colleagues reported two twisted acenes: hexatwistacene and decatwistacene. The “deca” in decatwistacene refers to its ten-ring acene framework. Unlike a flat chain of fused rings, this molecule bends and twists along its length.

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The authors attributed the deformation to steric crowding: imide groups press against neighboring fused benzene rings. Their 2017 paper, “A Decatwistacene with an Overall 170° Torsion”, appeared in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, volume 56, issue 48, pages 15373–15377. The publisher lists first publication on October 13, 2017; PubMed gives the issue date as November 27, 2017.

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How the team synthesized the molecules

The reported bottom-up synthesis used palladium-catalyzed Suzuki cross-coupling and C–H activation. These methods let the researchers assemble the extended fused-ring structures; the paper reports synthesis of both hexatwistacene and decatwistacene.

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What the 170° measurement means

Single-crystal X-ray analyses established decatwistacene’s structure and showed an overall end-to-end torsion angle of about 170°. This is a geometric measurement of the molecule’s twisted shape in the crystal structure, not an observation of the molecule rotating through 170° over time.

In its 2017 coverage, Chemistry World compared the result with a reported 144° angle for highly twisted pentacene. The comparison conveys the scale of the decatwistacene result, but it does not establish that the compounds had otherwise identical structures or measurement contexts.

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What “record” meant in 2017

Fan and colleagues described decatwistacene as the longest twistacene reported and its approximately 170° torsion as the largest reported for that class at the time. That is a publication-era claim from 2017. The cited sources do not establish whether it remains the record in 2026, so it should not be presented as a current ranking.

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Why the twisted structure attracted interest

The authors reported enhanced solubility and stability with respect to light and oxygen. They associated these properties with the twisting deformations and with lower LUMO levels resulting from the introduction of imide groups.

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The team also suggested that the findings could open a path toward narrow chiral graphene nanoribbons with good stability and processability. This was a prospective research direction, not a claim that the synthesis had already produced a commercial material or device.

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