High temperature chemistry of aromatic hydrocarbons

We have not only gained new insight into the mechanism and generality of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) thermal automerization reactions, we have also uncovered several new high temperature reactions and added a third dimension to our program by applying high temperature chemistry to problems in organic synthesis. Our synthesis of corannulene has attracted much recent attention; however, we believe that the uncatalyzed ``cyclodehydrogenation reactions`` which form 5-membered rings and 6-membered rings at high temperatures may prove to be of greater general importance in the long term. This bias is reflected in the accompanying proposal.