Compound 75 (13.5 g, 0.021 mol) was mixed with copper powder (0.9 g) in quinoline (80 mL), and the mixture was heated to 250-260° C. in a Woods-metal bath. When no further bubbles of carbon dioxide gas could be detected (about 2 hours), the mixture was allowed to cool to room temperature and hot hexane (400 mL) was added. This mixture was then repeatedly washed by HCl (2N, 4×50 mL). The hexane was partially removed by evaporation, and the resultant solid was collected by filtration and re-crystallized from hexane to afford compound 70 (7.0 g, 60.6% yield). M.p. 111.0-113.3° C. 1H NMR (C6D6) δ 6.53 (s, 2H), 2.51 (t, 4H), 1.64 (m, 4H), 1.27 (m, 28H), 0.89 (t, 6H). 13C NMR: 141.26, 136.42, 133.17, 132.04, 120.73, 32.31, 30.03, 29.96, 29.90, 29.79, 29.66, 29.04, 23.07, 14.28.
