Abstract: The present invention relates to a process for preparing unsymmetric compounds from the group of the m-terphenyls which can be used as unsymmetric OCO pincer ligands, comprising the process steps of a) reacting a first substituted or unsubstituted phenol with a 1,3-disubstituted arene which may likewise be substituted in the 2 and 5 positions to obtain a phenol-arene coupling product and b) optionally protecting the OH group of the phenol-arene coupling product with a protecting group to obtain a protected phenol-arene coupling product, and c) reacting the phenol-arene coupling product from a) or b) with a second substituted or unsubstituted phenol to obtain an unsymmetric m-terphenyl, with the proviso that the first phenol and the second phenol have different substitution, characterized in that at least one of process steps a) and c) is conducted as an electrochemical process step.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a process for preparing unsymmetric compounds from the group of the m-terphenyls which can be used as unsymmetric OCO pincer ligands, comprising the process steps of a) reacting a first substituted or unsubstituted phenol with a 1,3-disubstituted arene which may likewise be substituted in the 2 and 5 positions to obtain a phenol-arene coupling product and b) optionally protecting the OH group of the phenol-arene coupling product with a protecting group to obtain a protected phenol-arene coupling product, and c) reacting the phenol-arene coupling product from a) or b) with a second substituted or unsubstituted phenol to obtain an unsymmetric m-terphenyl, with the proviso that the first phenol and the second phenol have different substitution, characterized in that at least one of process steps a) and c) is conducted as an electrochemical process step.