In organic chemistry, a carbo-mer (often carbo-mer or carbomer) is an expanded molecule obtained by insertion of C2 units into a given molecule.Carbo-mers differ from their templates in size but not in symmetry when each C–C single bond is replaced by an alkyne bond C-C≡C-C, each C=C double bond is replaced by an allene bond C=C=C=C, and each C≡C triple bond is replaced by C≡C-C≡C. The size of the carbo-mer continues to increase when more C2 units are inserted, so carbo-mers are also called carbon-molecules, where "n" is the number of acetylene or allene groups in an n-expansion unit. This concept, devised by Rémi Chauvin in 1995, is aimed at introducing new chemical properties for existing chemical motifs.
Two distinct expansions of benzene can be called carbo-benzene (C18H6):
One (above right) expands each C-H bond to C-C≡C-H, makinghexaethynylbenzene, a substituted benzene derivative.
One (above left) expands each C=C and C≡C bond of the benzene core, making 1,2,4,5,7,8,10,11,13,14,16,17-dodecadehydro[18]annulene. An analog of this molecule, with the hydrogen atoms replaced by phenyl groups, 3,6,9,12,15,18-hexaphenyl-1,2,4,5,7,8,10,11,13,14,16,17-dodecadehydro[18]annulene, is stable. Its proton NMR spectrum shows that the phenyl protons are shifted downfield compared to a proton position in benzene itself (chemical shift position for the ortho proton is 9.49 ppm), suggesting the presence of a diamagnetic ring current and thus aromaticity. The final step in its organic synthesis is reaction of the triol with stannous chloride and hydrochloric acid in diethyl ether: