What is Benzocyclobutene?

Benzocyclobutene has been widely used in polymer science based on the ring-opening ability of the strained cyclobutene ring. It is stable at room temperature, but undergoes an electrocyclic rearrangement at elevated temperature (>200 °C) to the highly reactive o-quinodimethane. The o-quinodimethane undergoes Diels–Alder reactions, and in the absence of an external dienophile, generates 1,2,5,6-dibenzocyclooctane (~25%) and higher oligomers (~75%).

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