Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 3, 2026

Testing Nicotine Tolerance in Aphids Using an Artificial Diet Experiment
Published on: May 14, 2008
The interplay of theory and experiment in the study of phenylnitrene
W T Borden1, N P Gritsan, C M Hadad
1Department of Chemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA.
Abstract:
The intra- and intermolecular chemistry of phenylnitrene (PhN), its singlet-triplet energy separation, and its electronic spectra are interpreted with the aid of ab initio molecular orbital theory. The key to understanding singlet PhN is the recognition that this species has an open-shell electronic structure, in contrast to the related species, phenylcarbene, which has a closed-shell electronic structure. The thermodynamics of nitrenes, benzazirines, dehydroazepines, aminyl radicals, and their hydrocarbon analogues are also discussed.
Related Concept Videos
Rate-Determining Steps
In a multistep reaction mechanism, one of the elementary steps progresses significantly slower than the others. This slowest step is called the rate-limiting step (or rate-determining step). A reaction cannot proceed faster than its slowest step, and hence, the rate-determining step limits the overall reaction rate.
The concept of rate-determining step can be understood from the analogy of a 4-lane freeway with a short-stretch of traffic-bottleneck caused due to...
Multi-Step Reactions
Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution: Nitration of Benzene
ortho–para-Directing Activators: –CH3, –OH, –⁠NH2, –OCH3
Directing and Steric Effects in Disubstituted Benzene Derivatives
Nucleophilic Aromatic Substitution: Elimination–Addition

