Hydrogenation of arenes by the RhCl₃-aliquat^® 336 catalyst. Part 3. Selective reduction of polycyclic compounds¹ 1 For Part 2 see [1].

Acenaphthylene, fluorene, anthracene, phenanthrene, benz[a]anthracene, pyrene, fluoranthene, benzo[c] phenanthrene and some of their derivatives were shown to undergo partial hydrogenation in the presence of the RhCl₃-Aliquat^® 336 catalyst in a highly selective manner. Olefinic double bonds were found to be hydrogenated prior to aromatic moieties. In linear aromatic molecules, only the terminal rings are reduced. In phenanthrene the C₉-C₁₀ bond and in pyrene the C₄-C₅ linkage are the only ones to be affected. Benz [a] anthracene is converted exclusively into 7,8,9,10-tetrahydrobenz[a]anthracene. Benzo[c] phenanthrene is hydrogenated to give primarily the 5,6-dihydro derivative. Chlorine and bromine substituents were found to undergo hydrogenolysis when attached to the reacting moieties, but usually remain unaffected when located on non-reacting aromatic rings.