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Updated: Jun 28, 2025

Isolating Free Carbenes, their Mixed Dimers and Organic Radicals
Published on: April 19, 2019
Genuine carbene versus carbene-like reactivity
Jan Lorkowski1, Patrick Yorkgitis1, Melinda R Serrato1
1UCSD-CNRS Joint Research Chemistry Laboratory (IRL 3555), Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA-92093-0343, USA.
Abstract:
Singlet carbenes are not always isolable and often even elude direct detection. When they escape observation, their formation can sometimes be evidenced by in situ trapping experiments. However, is carbene-like reactivity genuine evidence of carbene formation? Herein, using the first example of a spectroscopically characterized cyclic (amino)(aryl)carbene (CAArC), we cast doubt on the most common carbene trapping reactions as sufficient proof of carbene formation.
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