Bottom-up synthesis of optically active oligonaphthalenes: Three different pathways for controlling axial chirality

The asymmetric synthesis of optically active oligonapthalenes through three different pathways, which depend on the variations of the naphthalene side chains, is reported. The chains on the naphthalene have played vital roles for chirality induction and they are the only method for constructing oligonaphthalenes where all-axial chirality, the types and the alignments of the functional groups on the side chains are controlled.