Macrocyclic pentamers functionalised around their periphery as potential building blocks.

The elaboration of a five-fold symmetric macrocyclic aromatic pentamer bearing peripheral benzyloxy and hydroxyl groups is described. These could be used to explore further functionalisation for use as pentagonal building blocks. The internal fluorine-substituted macrocycle has been prepared via a one-pot procedure which is an improvement on the stepwise chain growth approach reported in the literature.