Abstract
Recently, we found that the benzannulation of o-(2-phenylethynyl)benzaldehyde with various alkynes was catalyzed by the rhenium complex to give the 2,3-disubstituted naphthalenes in moderate to good yields. Based on this finding, we applied this benzannulation protocol to the synthesis of highly elaborated helical molecules having 2,3-disubstituted naphthalene units.