Gas-phase reactivity of charged pi-type biradicals

Four pi,pi-biradicals, 2,6-dimethylenepyridinium and the novel isomers N-(3-methylenephenyl)-3-methylenepyridinium, N-phenyl-3,5-dimethylenepyridinium, and N-(3,5-dimethylenephenyl)pyridinium ions, were generated and structurally characterized in a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer. Their gas-phase reactivity toward various reagents was compared to that of the corresponding monoradicals, 2-methylenepyridinium, N-phenyl-3-methylenepyridinium, and N-(3-methylenephenyl)pyridinium ions. The biradicals reactivity was found to reflect their predicted multiplicity. The 2,6-dimethylenepyridinium ion, the only biradical in this study predicted to have a closed-shell singlet ground state, reacts significantly faster than the other biradicals, which are predicted to have triplet ground states. In fact, this biradical reacts at a higher rate than the analogous monoradical, which suggests that to avoid the costly uncoupling of its unpaired electrons, the biradical favors ionic mechanisms over barriered radical pathways. In contrast, the second-order reaction rate constants of the isomeric biradicals with triplet ground states are well approximated by those of the analogous monoradicals, although the final reaction products are sometimes different. This difference arises from rapid radical-radical recombination of the initial monoradical reaction products. The overall reactivity toward the hydrogen-atom donors benzeneselenol and tributylgermanium hydride is significantly greater for the radicals with the charged site in the same ring system as the radical site. This finding indicates that polar effects play an important role in controlling the reactivity of pi,pi-biradicals, just as has been demonstrated for sigma,sigma-biradicals.