Preparation and X-ray crystal structure of (4bα,6β,9β,9aα,10α,13α)-4b,5,6,7,8,9,9a,10,11,12,13,14-dodecahydro-4b-phenyl-6,9:10,13-dimethanodicyclohepta[a,c]naphthalene

The novel hexacyclic title hydrocarbon, formed by an unusual oxidative dimerization of 3-phenylbicyclo[3,2,1]oct-2-ene, has been isolated and its structure elucidated by means of X-ray crystallography. The trivial name 4b-phenylmariontetraene is proposed for the hydrocarbon. Crystals are orthorhombic, Pbca; a = 21.87(2), b = 10.57(2), c = 17.41(2) A from diffractometer measurements (Mo radiation). V = 4024.2 A3, Z = 8, Dc = 1.21 Mg m−3, F(000) = 1584, μ = 0.34 cm−3. The structure was solved by direct phasing methods with MULTAN 78 and was refined by weighted full-matrix least-squares procedures to R = 0.046 for 2287 observed reflexions.