Aza-helicenes are chiral, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with nitrogen atoms in the backbone, which have the potential use as molecular actuators. Molecular dynamics calculations by Rempala and King (J. Chem. Comp. Theor., in press) have a shown that protonation of nitrogen atoms on the helical backbone causes reversible expansion of 160%. These results have sparked interest in synthesizing large [n,3,1] aza-helicenes. The proposed synthesis involves an AB-type step polymerization using palladium catalyzed cross coupling reactions followed by imine bride formation. Work toward the synthesis of monomer units will be described here.