Synthesis of bowl-shaped aromatic hydrocarbons, buckybowl

Buckybowls, bowl-shaped π-conjugated aromatic hydrocarbons corresponding to partial structures of fullerenes or cap structures of carbon nanotubes, possess the interesting chemical and physical properties due to the unique curved aromatic surfaces. Development of efficient methodology to construct the highly strained bowl-shaped aromatic skeleton has been one of the most challenging and important issues in this field after the discovery of the related fullerenes. The synthetic works on buckybowls have been recently grown drastically since the efficient synthetic methodologies in both solution phase and gas phase (flash vacuum pyrolysis) have been developed in the last 15 years. This review summarizes the synthetic methodologies for the construction of the buckybowl skeletons and the reported buckybowls are presented.