The influence of the chiral environment in the photosynthesis of enantiomerically enriched hexahelicene. A sudden change in the chirality of hexahelicene by a change in the temperature of a chiral crystalline medium

Photochemical oxidative cyclisation of stilbenes and stilbenoids--the Mallory-reaction

After Mallory described in 1964 the use of iodine as catalyst for the photochemical cyclisation of stilbenes, this reaction has proven its effectiveness in the synthesis of phenanthrenes, other PAHs and phenacenes with a surprisingly large selection of substituents. The "early age" of the reaction was reviewed by Mallory in 1984 in a huge chapter in the Organic Reactions series, but the development has continued. Alternative conditions accommodate more sensitive substituents, and isomers can be favoured by sacrificial substituents. Herein the further developments and applications of this reaction after 1984 are discussed and summarized.