π-Extended 4,5-Fused Bis-Fluorene: Highly Open-Shell Compounds and their Cationic Tetrathiafulvalene Derivatives

The synthesis of diradical organic compounds has garnered significant attention due to their thermally accessible spin inversion and optoelectronic properties. Yet, preparing such stable structures with high open-shell behavior remains challenging. Herein, we report the synthesis and properties of four π-extended, fused fluorene derivatives with high diradical character, taking advantage of a molecular design where the closed-shell does not include any Clar sextet, comparatively to a maximum of 5 in the corresponding open-shell state. This led to an unusual open-shell triplet ground state with an outstanding singlet-triplet energy difference (ΔE_ST) of ca. 19 kcal/mol, one of the highest values reported to date for an all-carbon conjugated scaffold. Incorporation of dithiafulvene units at each end of the molecule (at the five-membered rings) furnishes extended tetrathiafulvalenes (TTFs) undergoing reversible oxidations to the radical cation and diradical dication. The various pro-aromatic structures presented herein show highly localized spin density and a limited conjugation due to the confined π-electrons in the aromatic cycles, as supported by ¹H NMR, UV/Visible, EPR spectroscopy and DFT calculations.