A process for producing a halobiphenyl derivative represented by the following formula (I) comprises dehydrogenating a cyclohexylhalobenzene represented by the following formula (II) under such conditions that substantially no dehalogenation occurs. ##STR1## wherein X represents a halogen atom, and each of R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 independently represents a group represented by the formula ##STR2## wherein A represents carboxyl or an alkoxycarbonyl group and R represents a hydrogen atom or a lower alkyl group; an alkylcarbonyl; alkenyl; alkynyl; alkyl; aryl; arylcarbonyl; hydroxyalkyl; cyanoalkyl or cyanoalkenyl group.
The available methods of chemical synthesis have arguably contributed to the prevalence of aromatic rings, such as benzene, toluene, xylene, or pyridine, in modern pharmaceuticals. Many such sp2-carbon-rich fragments are now easy to synthesize using high-quality cross-coupling reactions that click together an ever-expanding menu of commercially available building blocks, but the products are flat and