We describe the synthesis and photophysical properties of tetraarylnaphthidines. Our synthetic approach is based on an iron-catalyzed oxidative C-C coupling reaction as the key step using a hexadecafluorinated iron-phthalocyanine complex as a catalyst and air as the sole oxidant. The N,N,N',N'-tetraarylnaphthidines proved to be highly fluorescent with quantum yields of up to 68%.
Keywords: fluorescence; iron catalysis; naphthidines; oxidative coupling.