Tetrabenzononacene: “Butterfly Wings” Stabilize the Core

In combination with bulky substituents at the core, fourfold benzannulation at the cata-positions stabilizes a nonacene sufficiently to allow its isolation and characterization by (1) H NMR and X-ray analysis. The four benzo units blueshift the absorption spectrum in comparison to a solely linear nonacene, but significantly increase the stability in the solid state.