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Isolating Free Carbenes, their Mixed Dimers and Organic Radicals
Published on: April 19, 2019
Triindenoolympicenyl Radical with High Reduction Potential
Yufei Zhang1, Taoyu Weng2, Jun Xu3
1Institute of Molecular Plus, Department of Chemistry, Tianjin University and Haihe Laboratory of Sustainable Chemical Transformations, 92 Weijin Road, Tianjin 300072, China.
Abstract:
Spin-1/2 open-shell polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) typically exhibit pronounced redox amphotericity; however, accessing species with high reduction potentials (>-0.5 V) remains challenging. Herein, we report the synthesis and crystalline-state isolation of a stable triindenoolympicenyl radical (TIOR). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations and electrochemical analyses reveal that incorporation of three indeno units shifts the first reduction potential of TIOR by approximately 1.0 V toward more positive values relative to the triisopropylsilylethynyl (TIPSE)-substituted olympicenyl radical (OR1). These findings demonstrate that indeno annulation can serve as an effective strategy for fine-tuning the redox behavior of open-shell PAHs.
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