Reaction of Triplet Phenylnitrene with Molecular Oxygen

Aerobic Oxysulfonylation of Olefins Using N-Sulfonylaminophthalimides as Sulfonyl Radical Precursors

Readily accessible N-sulfonylaminophthalimides were developed to be efficient sulfonyl radical precursors upon being treated with a base/oxidant under mild conditions. The method was applied to the oxysulfonylation of olefins, providing β-ketosulfones and isobenzofurans stereoselectively. On the basis of control experiments, density functional theory calculations, and the literature, a plausible radical mechanism was proposed. The findings offered a chance to develop novel radical precursors based on diversely substituted N-aminophthalimides, which might establish a universal mild approach for the generation of various radicals.

Preparation and Photochemistry of Parent Triplet Vinylarsinidene

Vinyl pnictinidenes are an elusive family of molecules that have been suggested as key intermediates in multiple chemical reactions and commonly display a predisposition toward open-shell electronic ground states (as is evident from quantum chemical computations). However, owing to their expected extremely high reactivity, no vinyl pnictinidene has ever been isolated and characterized spectroscopically. Here, we report the synthesis and spectroscopic characterization of vinylarsinidene, a higher congener of vinylnitrene. As we demonstrate, triplet vinylarsinidene can be prepared through the low-temperature photolysis of diazidovinylarsine at 10 K in an argon matrix. The title compound can also be generated through high-vacuum flash pyrolysis of the diazide at 700 °C and trapped analogously. Triplet vinylarsinidene was characterized by IR and UV/vis spectroscopy and displayed remarkably rich unimolecular photochemistry. Upon selective photoirradiation, it rearranges to vinylidenearsine, 2H-arsirene, triplet ethynylarsinidene or an arsinidene (H-As) acetylene complex. The formation mechanisms of these products were rationalized with DFT and CASPT2 computations.

Water Complex of Imidogen

Imidogen (NH) is the simplest nitrogen hydride that plays an important role in combustion and interstellar chemistry, and its combination with H₂O is the prototypical amidation reaction of O-H bonds involving a nitrene intermediate. Herein, we report the observation of the elusive water complex of NH, a prereaction complex associated with the amidation reaction in a solid N₂ matrix at 10 K. The hydrogen-bonded structure of NH···OH₂ (versus HN···HOH) is confirmed via IR spectroscopy with comprehensive isotope labeling (D, ¹⁸O, and ¹⁵N) and quantum chemical calculations at the UCCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVQZ level of theory. In line with the observed absorption at 350 nm, irradiation of the complex at 365 nm leads to O-H bond insertion, yielding hydroxylamine NH₂OH.

IR absorption spectra of aniline cation, anilino radical, and phenylnitrene isolated in solid argon

Electron bombardment of aniline (PhNH₂) in an Ar matrix mainly generated the aniline cation (PhNH₂⁺), anilino (PhNH) and phenyl (Ph) radicals, and phenylnitrene (PhN). Further irradiation of the electron-bombarded matrix sample at 365 nm depleted PhNH₂⁺ and PhN, and resulted in the formation of PhNH₂, PhNH, and Ph. In separate experiments, irradiation of the PhNH₂/Ar matrix samples at 265 or 160 nm mainly generated PhNH and Ph radicals, but without the formation of PhNH₂⁺ and PhN. According to the observed photochemical behaviors, quantum-chemically predicted harmonic vibrational wavenumbers of each species, and the information reported in previous photodissociation studies, we unambiguously characterized the IR features of the aromatic species. The information of the vibrational fundamentals of PhNH is new and the formation mechanism is discussed.

A facile method for grafting functional hydrogel films on PTFE, PVDF, and TPX polymers

The use of polymeric materials in biomedical applications requires a judicious control of surface properties as they are directly related to cellular interactions and biocompatibility. The most desired chemical surface properties include hydrophilicity and the presence of functional groups for surface modification. In this work, we describe a method to graft a highly stable, ultra-thin, amine-functional hydrogel layer onto highly inert surfaces of poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE), poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF), and poly(4-methyl-1-pentene) (PMP or TPX). Covalent grafting is realized with hydrophilic poly(vinylamine-co-acetamide)s by C-H insertion crosslinking (CHic) chemistry initiated by UV light. These polyvinylamides carry tetrafluorophenyl azide groups as photo or thermo activated binding sites and contain further free amine groups, which can be used to bind peptides such as biological ligands, polysaccharides, or other hydrogel layers. The covalently bound surface layers resist intensive Soxhlet extraction confirming the stability of the coating. Fluorescent staining verified the accessibility of free primary amine groups, which can be used for the functionalization of the surface with bioactive molecules. The coating demonstrates hydrophobic wetting behavior when conditioned in air and hydrophilic wetting behavior when conditioned in water showing the presence of loosely crosslinked polymer chains that can re-orient. We believe that the reported application of CHic for the surface modification of fluorinated polymers like PTFE and PVDF as well as TPX can form the basis for advanced biocompatible and biofunctional surface engineering.

Beyond a Linker: The Role of Photochemistry of Crosslinkers in the Direct Optical Patterning of Colloidal Nanocrystals

Surface chemistry mediated direct optical patterning represents an emerging strategy for incorporating colloidal nanocrystals (NCs) in integrated optoelectronic platforms including displays and image sensors. However, the role of photochemistry of crosslinkers and other photoactive species in patterning remains elusive. Here we show the design of nitrene- and carbene-based photocrosslinkers can strongly affect the patterning capabilities and photophysical properties of NCs, especially quantum dots (QDs). Their role beyond physical linkers stems from structure-dictated electronic configuration, energy alignment and associated reaction kinetics and thermodynamics. Patterned QD layers with designed carbene-based crosslinkers fully preserve their photoluminescent and electroluminescent properties. Patterned light emitting diodes (QLEDs) show a maximum external quantum efficiency of ≈12 % and lifetime over 4800 h, among the highest for reported patterned QLEDs. These results would guide the rational design of photoactive species in NC patterning and create new possibilities in the monolithic integration of NCs in high-performance device platforms.

2H-Imidazol-2-one O-Oxide: A Criegee Intermediate from a σ0π2 Singlet Ground-State Carbene

Triplet carbenes and triplet molecular oxygen can combine to form singlet carbonyl O-oxide Criegee intermediates in an overall spin-allowed transformation. While this reaction runs at the diffusion limit in the case of triplet carbenes, singlet carbenes are commonly more reluctant to bind ³O₂. In contradiction to this customarily encountered spin selectivity, the σ⁰π² singlet ground-state carbene 2H-imidazol-2-ylidene 1 reacts extremely rapidly with ³O₂ at temperatures as low as 30 K. The product of this cryogenic reaction is singlet 2H-imidazol-2-one O-oxide 7, an N-heterocyclic Criegee intermediate. The addition reaction becomes possible through the electrophilic activation of dioxygen in the triplet state, in which O₂ binding can initially proceed without a barrier. Criegee intermediate 7 exhibits an unprecedented high O-O stretching vibration at 1105 cm^-1, which can be explained by a resonance structure with an O₂ double bond. Furthermore, 2H-imidazol-2-one 5 and spiro-dioxirane 6 could be identified as the photodecomposition products of the herein-reported carbonyl oxide.

Phosphenic isocyanate (O2PNCO): Gas-phase generation, characterization, and photodecomposition reactions

Phosphenic isocyanate (O2PNCO), a novel phosphorus-containing small molecule has been generated by thermolysis of a dioxaphospholane-based precursor. The characterization of O2PNCO with IR and UV-vis spectroscopy in solid N2 and...

Molecular Magnets: The Synthesis and Characterization of High-Spin Nitrenes

Among all C‐, N‐, and O‐centered polyradicals, high‐spin nitrenes possess the largest magnetic anisotropy and are of considerable interest as multi‐level molecular spin systems for exploration of organic molecular magnetism and quantum information processing. Although the first representatives of quintet and septet nitrenes were obtained almost 50 years ago, the experimental and theoretical studies of these highly reactive species became possible only recently, owing to new achievements in molecular spectroscopy and computational chemistry. Meanwhile, dozens of various quintet dinitrenes and septet trinitrenes were successfully characterized by IR, UV/Vis, and EPR spectroscopy, thus providing important information about the electronic structure, magnetic properties and reactivity of these compounds.

Recent advances in chemistry of high-spin nitrenes

Experimental and theoretical studies on aromatic nitrenes bearing from three to six unpaired electrons and having quartet, quintet, sextet or septet ground spin states, published in the last 15 years are analyzed. A comparative analysis of the magnetic properties of high-spin nitrenes and all other known high-spin organic molecules is performed. Promising areas of practical application of high-spin nitrenes as molecular magnets and as qubits and qudits for quantum computations are discussed.

The bibliography includes 214 references.

Unusual Nitrene Oxidation Product Formation by Metathesis Involving the Dioxygen O-O and Borylnitrene B-N Bonds

The reaction of dioxygen with nitrenes can have significant energy barriers, although both reactants are triplet diradicals and the formation of nitroso-O-oxides is spin-allowed. By means of matrix-isolation infrared spectroscopy in solid argon, nitrogen, and neon, and through high-level computational quantum chemistry, it is shown herein that a 3-nitreno-1,3,2-benzodioxaborole CatBN (Cat=catecholato) reacts with dioxygen under cryogenic conditions thermally at temperatures as low as 7 K to produce two distinct products, an anti-nitroso-O-oxide and a nitritoborane CatBONO. The computed barriers for the formation of nitroso-O-oxide isomers are very low. Whereas anti-nitroso-O-oxide is kinetically trapped, its bisected isomer has a very low barrier for metathesis, yielding the CatBO+NO radicals in a strongly exothermic reaction; these radicals can combine under matrix-isolation conditions to give nitritoborane CatBONO. The trapped isomer, anti-nitroso-O-oxide, can form the nitritoborane CatBONO only after photoexcitation, possibly involving isomerization to the bisected isomer of anti-nitroso-O-oxide.

Isomer-Selective Threshold Photoelectron Spectra of Phenylnitrene and Its Thermal Rearrangement Products

The photoionization of phenylnitrene was investigated by photoion mass-selected threshold photoelectron spectroscopy in the gas phase. Flash vacuum pyrolysis of phenyl azide at 480 °C produces the nitrene, which subsequently rearranges at higher temperatures affording three isomeric cyanocyclopentadienes, in contrast to low-temperature trapping experiments. Temperature control of the reactor and threshold photoelectron spectra allows for optimizing the generation of phenylnitrene or its thermal rearrangement products, as well as obtaining vibrational information for the corresponding ions. The adiabatic ionization energies (AIE) of the triplet nitrene (³A₂) to the radical cation in its lowest-energy doublet (²B₂) and quartet (⁴A₁) spin states were determined to 8.29 ± 0.01 and 9.73 ± 0.01 eV, respectively. Vibrational frequencies of ring breathing modes were measured at 500 ± 80 and 484 ± 80 cm^-1 for both the [Formula: see text](²B₂) and [Formula: see text](⁴A₁) cationic states, respectively. The AIE differ from the values previously reported; hence, we revise the doublet-quartet energy splitting of the phenylnitrene radical cation to 1.44 eV, in excellent agreement with composite methods and coupled cluster calculations, but considerably higher than the literature reference (1.1 eV).

Photodecomposition of Thienylsulfonyl Azides: Generation and Spectroscopic Characterization of Triplet Thienylsulfonyl Nitrenes and 3-Thienylnitrene

The photochemistry of 2-thienylsulfonyl azide (1) and 3-thienylsulfonyl azide (6) has been disclosed by combining matrix-isolation spectroscopy with quantum chemical calculations. Two novel heteroaryl sulfonyl nitrenes, 2-thienylsulfonyl nitrene (2) and 3-thienylsulfonyl nitrene (7), have been generated during the 266 nm laser photolysis of 1 and 6, respectively. Both nitrenes in the triplet ground state have been characterized with matrix-isolation IR (¹⁵N-labeling) in solid Ar (10.0 K), N₂ (10.0 K), and Ne (2.8 K) matrixes and EPR spectroscopy (2, |D/hc| = 1.452 cm^-1 and |E/hc| = 0.0058 cm^-1; 7, |D/hc| = 1.492 cm^-1 and |E/hc| = 0.0060 cm^-1) in solid toluene at 5.0 K. Upon subsequent UV-light irradiation (365 nm), no Curtius rearrangement but decomposition of 2 occurs by SO₂-elimination and the concurrent formation of ring-opening product (s-Z)-4-thioxo-2-butenenitrile (3) via the intermediacy of the putative 2-thienylnitrene (4). In contrast, violet-light irradiation (400 ± 20 nm) of 7 causes SO₂-elimination to yield triplet 3-thienylnitrene (8), for which the IR spectroscopic identification is supported by quantum chemical calculations at the B3LYP/6-311++G(3df,3pd) level. 3-Thienylnitrene is highly reactive, since it not only combines with SO₂ to furnish 3-thienyl-N-sulfonylamine (9) but also undergoes ring-opening to (s-E)-4-thioxo-2-butenenitrile (10) under the UV-light irradiation (365 nm).

Persistent Organic High-Spin Trinitrenes

The septet ground state trinitrenes 1,3,5‐trichloro‐2,4,6‐trinitrenobenzene and 1,3,5‐tribromo‐2,4,6‐trinitrenobenzene were isolated in inert (Ar, Ne, and Xe) as well as reactive matrices (H₂, O₂, and H₂O) at cryogenic temperatures. These trinitrenes were obtained in high yields by UV photolysis of the corresponding triazides and characterized by IR and UV/Vis spectroscopy. The trinitrenes, despite bearing six unpaired electrons, are remarkably unreactive towards molecular oxygen and hydrogen and are persistent in water ice up to 160 K where the water matrix starts to sublime off.

Photochemistry of OPN: Formation of Cyclic PON and Reversible Combination with Carbon Monoxide

Cyclic PON, a first 16-electron triatomic ring consisting of two first-row elements, has been generated through 193 nm laser photolysis of OPN in cryogenic matrices. When the photolysis (365 nm) was performed in the presence of CO, OPN combines CO and furnishes an exotic acyclic molecule OPNCO. Upon the 193 nm laser irradiation, OPNCO dissociates mainly to OPN and CO with traces of PN and CO₂ . The identification of cyclic PON and OPNCO with IR spectroscopy is supported by ¹⁵ N-labeling experiments and quantum chemical calculations.

Flash Vacuum Pyrolysis: Techniques and Reactions

Flash vacuum pyrolysis (FVP) had its beginnings in the 1940s and 1950s, mainly through mass spectrometric detection of pyrolytically formed free radicals. In the 1960s many organic chemists started performing FVP experiments with the purpose of isolating new and interesting compounds and understanding pyrolysis processes. Meanwhile, many different types of apparatus and techniques have been developed, and it is the purpose of this review to present the most important methods as well as a survey of typical reactions and observations that can be achieved with the various techniques. This includes preparative FVP, chemical trapping reactions, matrix isolation, and low temperature spectroscopy of reactive intermediates and unstable molecules, the use of online mass, photoelectron, microwave, and millimeterwave spectroscopies, gas-phase laser pyrolysis, pulsed pyrolysis with supersonic jet expansion, very low pressure pyrolysis for kinetic investigations, solution-spray and falling-solid FVP for involatile compounds, and pyrolysis over solid supports and reagents. Moreover, the combination of FVP with matrix isolation and photochemistry is a powerful tool for investigations of reaction mechanism.

Interplay of Conformational and Chemical Transformations of Ortho-Substituted Aromatic Nitroso Oxides: Experimental and Theoretical Study

The mechanism of the photooxidation of aromatic azides containing a substituent at one of the ortho positions (2,4-dimethoxyphenyl azide (1a) and 2-methyl-4-[(2E)-1-methylbut-2-en-1-yl]phenyl azide (1b)) was studied in acetonitrile. The electronic spectra and the kinetic regularities of the consumption of corresponding nitroso oxides, which are the reaction intermediates, were investigated by flash photolysis. Owing to the one-and-a-half order of the C-N and N-O bonds and asymmetric molecule structure these nitroso oxides exist as four conformers (cis/syn, cis/anti, trans/syn, and trans/anti). The conformers differ in the spectral properties and in the reactivity in various irreversible transformations. The only product, (2Z,4E)-4-methoxy-6-oxohepta-2,4-dienenitrile oxide (7a), was observed during photooxidation of 1a, whereas transformations of the nitroso oxide isomers derived from 1b led to a set of stable products: the cis/anti isomer was transformed into (3,4,7-trimethyl-3a,4-dihydro-2,1-benzisoxazol-5(3H)-ylidene)ethanal (10), the trans isomers recombined forming the corresponding nitro and nitroso compounds, and the most reactive cis/syn isomer was transformed into ortho-nitrosobenzyl alcohol 11. The last was oxidized slowly to the corresponding benzaldehyde 12. Interaction of 11 and 12 led to the formation of (Z)-1,2-bis(2-formyl-4-((2E)-1-methylbut-2-en-1-yl)phenyl)diazene-1-oxide (13). The DFT simulation and kinetic modeling of the nitroso oxide transformations as well as the product analysis allowed revealing the fine details of the mechanism of decay for these species.

The decomposition of benzenesulfonyl azide: a matrix isolation and computational study

The stepwise Curtius-rearrangement of benzenesulfonyl azide, PhS(O)₂N₃, has been proven experimentally by the direct observation of the novel intermediates sulfonyl nitrene PhS(O)₂N and N-sulfonyl imine PhNSO₂ and theoretically by quantum chemical calculations.

Conformational Transformations in Aromatic Nitroso Oxides

A systematic theoretical study on conformational transformations of monosubstituted (ortho- and para-) aromatic nitroso oxides R-C6H4NOO was performed. The existence of two rotation axes enables two types of conformational transitions in substituted arylnitroso oxides: trans/cis (rotation around the N-O bond) and syn/anti (rotation around the C-N bond, which is important in ortho isomers). The complete set of conformers was localized for R-C6H4NOO using four selected density functional (M06-L, mPWPW91, OLYP, and HCTH) and augmented polarization basis set of triple splitting. It was found that the activation enthalpy of the trans-cis conformational transition is nearly insensitive to the nature of R and ranges within 58-60 kJ/mol for para isomers. The ortho substituent has an insignificant effect on ΔH(≠)trans→cis: it increases this value by ∼5 kJ/mol in syn isomers and decreases it by ∼3 kJ/mol in anti isomers. On the contrary, the syn-anti conformational barrier is considerably affected by the substituent R; an increase in the electron-withdrawing properties of R decreases ΔH(≠)syn→anti. The activation enthalpies grow with increasing polarity of the solvent, as it was found using IEFPCM calculation. The values of relaxation time for all conformational equilibria were calculated and compared with known lifetimes of aromatic nitroso oxides. Our results suggest that syn/anti transitions occur fast enough in the scale of the experimental lifetime. However, trans/cis transformations proceed more slowly. And under certain conditions discussed in the paper, the rate of this conformational transition limits that of irreversible decay of nitroso oxide.

A Laser Flash Photolysis Study of Azo-Compound Formation from Aryl Nitrenes at Room Temperature

The species 4-nitrenopyridine 1-oxide is known to exhibit triplet nitrene dominated chemistry to yield azo-dimer products exclusively, even at room temperature. As such, this species, and its analogue 4-nitrenoquinoline 1-oxide, are useful models to probe the mechanism of formation of azo-dimers, which is postulated to proceed by self-reaction of the nitrene or reaction of nitrene with the parent azide. A laser flash photolysis study is described where the kinetics of formation of azo-dimer were found to be most adequately modeled by competition between both mechanisms, and rate coefficients for the competing reactions were determined.