Method for direct arylation of diamondoids

A method for arylating a diamondoid compound comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing a non-halogenated diamondoid compound or mixture of non-halogenated diamondoid compounds and an aromatic compound or mixture of aromatic compounds wherein at least one diamondoid compound and at least one aromatic compound are at least partially miscible;
• (b) mixing the compounds of step (a) to form at least a partial solution;
• (c) adding t-butyl halide to said mixture of step (b);
• (d) adding AlCl.sub.3 or AlBr.sub.3 to said mixture of step (c);
• (e) heating said mixture of step (d) to temperature above ambient and holding said heated mixture at elevated temperature;
• (f) recovering an arylated diamondoid compound from said solution in the absence of an intermediate product recovery step.

A method for selectively producing phenyl-substituted diamantane comprising the steps of:

• (a) mixing non-halogenated diamantane with an aromatic compound or mixture of aromatic compounds comprising at least one member which is at least partially miscible with said non-halogenated diamantane;
• (b) adding t-butyl halide to said mixture of step (a);
• (c) adding AlCl.sub.3 or AlBr.sub.3 to said mixture of step (b);
• (d) heating said mixture of step (d) to temperature above ambient and holding said heated mixture at elevated temperature;
• and
• (e) recovering phenyl-substituted diamantane from said solution in the absence of an intermediate product recovery step.