A successive route for the synthesis of substituted dibenzo[a,e]cycloheptatriene 1 was established by the reduction of 2-allylbenzaldehyde 4, the BF3·OEt2-mediated intermolecular coupling of 2-allylphenylmethanol 5 with oxygenated benzenes 6, the olefinic oxidative cleavage of 7 and the intramolecular ring-closure of 8. Functionalized anthracene 13 were prepared from 2-vinylbenzaldehyde 9. The key