Picene is a hydrocarbon found in the pitchy residue obtained in the distillation of peat tar and of petroleum.

It may be synthetically prepared by the action of anhydrous aluminium chloride on a mixture of naphthalene and 1,2-dibromoethane, or by distilling a-dinaphthostilbene.

It crystallizes in large colorless plates which possess a blue fluorescence.

When intercalated with potassium or rubidium and cooled to below 18 K, picene has been reported to exhibit superconductive properties.

[3] However, due to the apparent inability to reproduce this work,[4] the superconducting nature of doped picene has been met with heavy scepticism.