Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 26, 2026

Photogeneration of N-Heterocyclic Carbenes: Application in Photoinduced Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization
Published on: November 29, 2018
Modulation of carbene spin state population through precursor photophysics
William S Jenks1, Melanie J Heying, Erin M Rockafellow
1Department of Chemistry, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA.
Abstract:
Dicarbomethoxycarbene can be generated by photolysis of S-C sulfonium ylides derived from thiophene. By manipulating the thiophene (leaving group) portion of the ylide, the initial spin distribution of the carbenes can be strongly influenced. With certain carbene traps, product distributions from dicarbomethoxycarbene depend on the initial spin state distribution in which the carbene is generated and this is used as a means to report on the initial spin state distributions. This approach should be general for other carbenes generated from analogous precursors.
Related Concept Videos
Photochemical Electrocyclic Reactions: Stereochemistry
Selection Rules: Photochemical Activation
Cycloaddition Reactions: MO Requirements for Photochemical Activation
Deactivation Processes: Jablonski Diagram
¹³C NMR: ¹H–¹³C Decoupling
A broadband decoupling technique is used to simplify these complex, sometimes overlapping, signals. Broadband decoupling relies on a...
Spin–Spin Coupling Constant: Overview
Qualitatively, any spin plus-half nucleus polarizes the spins of its electrons to the minus-half state. Consequently, the paired electron in the hydrogen–carbon bond must have a...
NMR Spectroscopy: Spin–Spin Coupling

