with one or two equivalents of -butyllithum and various dienes (furans, pyrroles, cyclopentadienes, fulvenes) to form mono- or bis-cycloadducts. Highly substituted arenes can be obtained by removing the oxygen or nitrogens bridges from the furan or pyrrole adducts. By choice of conditions, two identical or two different rings can be fused to the di-aryne epuivalent. Improved short syntheses of permethylnaphthalene