Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Chemistry / Duy H. Hua / The description of this thesis is divided into three chapters following the chronological events of my research development. In chapter one, a series of new 1,4-anthracenediones were synthesized via functionalizations of the methyl side chain of 6-methyl-1,4-anthracenedione. The new 1,4-anthracenediones were found to exhibit potent cytotoxic activities against human L1210 leukemic and HL-60 cell lines. A key intermediate, 6-bromomethyl-1,4- anthracenedione (1.44), was first synthesized through a sequence of reactions including a double Friedel-Crafts reaction, reductive quinone formation, and selective benzylic bromination. The bromide (1.44) was further converted to other 1,4-anthracenediones via hydrolysis, subsequent oxidation, and reductive amination or nucleophilic substitution. Chapter two deals with a continuous research project aiming at macropolycyclic cyclodecitycene or [10]beltene derivative using Diels-Alder reaction as the key strategy for cyclization. A tetraene, (4aR,5R,7S,7aS,11aR,12R,14S,14aR)-5,7,12,14-tetrahydroxy- 2,3,9,10-tetramethylene-1,4,4a,5,6,7,7a,8,11,11a,12,13,14,14a-tetradecahydro-6,13-obenzenopentacene (2.51), was synthesized by following previous work from this laboratory. Unfortunately, the Diels-Alder reaction of tetraene 2.51 with triptycene bisquinone showed predominantly polymerization over intramolecular cyclization. The use of double activated quinone such as 1,4,5,8-naphthodiquinone (2.64) and 1,2,4,5- tetraethoxycarbonyl-1,4-benzoquinone (2.70) as dienophiles gave monoadducts 2.67 and 2.71 respectively. However, they both failed to cyclize under high dilution conditions at elevated temperature, which may be rationalized by chair conformations adopted in six membered rings causing unfavorable twist for intramolecular cylization. Further study showed tetraene 2.51 underwent an unexpected furan ring forming reaction. In chapter three, an unprecedented substituted cyclododeciptycene, 2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20,22,24-dodecahydro-9,11,21,23-tetramethoxy-(2,14:4,16:6,18:8, 20:10,22:12,24)-hexa(o-benzeno)-[12]cyclacene-1,3,5,7,13,14,17,19-octaone (3.138), was successfully synthesized based on a successful intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction, which was developed from the above [10]beltene project and previously reported literature work. A series of all cis-iptycenequinones were synthesized as bisdienophile building blocks from a sequence of Diels-Alder reactions, separation of individual Diels- Alder adducts, enolization, and oxidative demethoxylation. It was found that each Diels- Alder adduct isomer shows distinguish [superscript]1HNMR signals inherent to its structure. The characteristic [superscript]1HNMR signals allow the identification of the structures of iptycenequinones derived from the above reactions. A bisdimethoxyanthracene, 6,8,15,17-tetramethoxy-7,16-dihydro-7,16-(o-benzeno)heptacene (3.56), was synthesized as bisdiene building block, which reacted with cis,cis-heptiptycene tetraquinone (3.23). The cycloadduct was transformed to cyclododeciptycene 3.138, whose structure was firmly established by a single-crystal X-ray analysis.