Abstract
Synthesis of the (13)C(2)-labelled analogues of the carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon benzo[a]pyrene and its active metabolites are described. The method entails Pd-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura coupling of a naphthalene boronic acid with 2-bromobenzene-1,3-dialdehyde followed by Wittig reaction of the product with (13)CH(2)=PPh(3).