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Updated: Jul 2, 2026

Isolating Free Carbenes, their Mixed Dimers and Organic Radicals
Published on: April 19, 2019
Formation of cubane-like photodimers from 2-naphthalenecarbonitrile
Gui-Hong Liao1, Lin Luo, Hong-Xia Xu
1Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Irradiation of 2-naphthalenecarbonitrile (2-NpCN) in solution with a light lambda > 280 nm results in the formation of three rigid cubane-like photodimers, anti-head-to-head 1, anti-head-to-tail 2, and syn-head-to-tail 3, which are not in line with the previously recognized regioselectivity. These cubane-like photodimers have been well characterized by spectroscopic investigation and/or X-ray crystal structural analysis in this work. Moreover, the separation of the optically pure enantiomers of 1, 2, and 3 has been achieved by HPLC resolution.
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