Dramatic effect of N-substituents in viologens on single electron transfer from tributylphosphine

Aryldiazonium Salts as Nitrogen-Based Lewis Acids: Facile Synthesis of Tuneable Azophosphonium Salts

Inspired by the commercially available azoimidazolium dyes (e.g., Basic Red 51) that can be obtained from aryldiazonium salts and N-heterocyclic carbenes, we developed the synthesis of a unique set of arylazophosphonium salts. A range of colours were obtained by applying readily tuneable phosphine donor ligands and para-substituted aryldiazonium salts as nitrogen-based Lewis acids. With cyclic voltammetry, a general procedure was designed to establish whether the reaction between a Lewis acid and a Lewis base occurs by single-electron transfer or electron-pair transfer.

High Sensitivity Viologen for a Facile and Versatile Sensor of Base and Solvent Polarity in Solution and Solid State in Air Atmosphere

Viologen cations are excellent electro- and photochromic materials. They generally have no response or very low sensitivity to bases. In this paper, three compounds, 1,1'-bis(2-oxo-2-phenylethyl)-4,4'-bipyridinium (viologen) with different substituents, including H (1), Cl (2), and OH (3), were synthesized. All three, especially 1 and 2, have very high sensitivity to base in both solution and solid state in air atmosphere. These viologens are responsive not only to bases but also to solvent polarity. NMR shows 1 became enolic and then a radical, whereas 3 is colored only in the radical form. These results are in agreement with EPR spectra. Crystal structures show that the C-C that links two pyridinium and N-C distances in coplanar pyridinium in the colored (radical) form is clearly longer than that of the pale-yellow form, indicating that the color is due to the viologen radical. Viologens containing an electron-withdrawing phenacetyl group are the most sensitive compounds for fast, naked eye detection of base and solvent polarity.

Effect of structural change in viologen acceptors on the rate of single electron transfer from tributylphosphine

The "flexible" 3 and "rigid" cyclic viologens 4, diquarternary salts of 2,2'-bipyridine and 1,10-phenanthroline, respectively, were treated with tributylphosphine (1) in acetonitrile containing a large amount of methanol under an argon atmosphere. A single electron transfer (SET) easily occurred from the latter to the former, the SET to 4 being 10(5)-10(6) times faster than the SET to 3. The reorganization energy lambda for the latter SET is thought to be larger than that for the former SET, because 3 undergoes a structural change upon the one-electron reduction to its radical cation, whereas the one-electron reduction of 4 takes place without a structural change. Taking into account the difference in lambda, and also taking into account the bond formation energy brought about by the follow-up reaction of the phosphine radical cation 1*(+) with methanol, the observed kinetics were well interpreted in terms of the Marcus theory.