Direct Observation of 4-Phenoxyphenylnitrenium Ion: A Transient Absorption and Transient Resonance Raman Study

Time-Resolved Spectroscopic Study of N,N-Di(4-bromo)nitrenium Ions in Acidic Aqueous Solution

Nitrenium ions are common reactive intermediates with high activities towards some biological nucleophiles. In this paper, we employed femtosecond transient absorption (fs-TA) and nanosecond transient absorption (ns-TA) as well as nanosecond time-resolved resonance Raman (ns-TR³) spectroscopy and density function theory (DFT) calculations to study the spectroscopic properties of the N(4,4′–dibromodiphenylamino)–2,4,6–trimethylpyridinium BF₄⁻ salt (1) in an acidic aqueous solution. Efficient cleavage of the N–N bond (4 ps) to form the N,N–di(4–bromophenyl)nitrenium ion (DN) was also observed in the acidic aqueous solution. As a result, the dication intermediate 4 appears more likely to be produced after abstracting a proton for the nitrenium ion DN in the acid solution first, followed by an electron abstraction to form the radical cation intermediate 3. These new and more extensive time-resolved spectroscopic data will be useful to help to develop an improved understanding of the identity, nature, and properties of nitrenium ions involved in reactions under acidic aqueous conditions.

Structures of 4-substituted thioanisole radical cations studied by time-resolved resonance Raman spectroscopy during pulse radiolysis and theoretical calculations

The structures of 4-substituted thioanisole radical cations were studied by time-resolved resonance Raman spectroscopy during pulse radiolysis and DFT calculation, indicating importance of charge and spin distributions toward the dimerization.