ABSTRACT
This chapter surveys acenes, heli cenes, and their heterocyclic analogues mainly from the viewpoint of synthetic methods. These compounds have been known over 100 years and been synthesized via a variety of strategies. It describes the selected methods which have been historically significant or recently developed for the readers who become interested in fused polycyclic aromatic compounds. In addition to the synthetic methods, their properties and applications as organic functional materials are also described briefly. Numerous studies on acenes have been conducted for understanding their electronic structures, stability, and aromaticity as well as for developing their application to organic electronics. The chapter covers heteroacenes and heterohelicenes containing silole or phosphole ring, which is not aromatic rings, since they are known to exhibit excellent optical/optoelectronic properties. It summarizes the synthesis of heteroacenes and heterohelicenes through ring construction with carbon-heteroatom bond formation, mainly focusing on the author's work.
