UV-photoelectron spectroscopy of stable radicals: the electronic structure of planar Blatter radicals as materials for organic electronics

Electronically Perturbed Vibrational Excitations of the Luminescing Stable Blatter Radical

Stable radicals are spin-active species with a plethora of proposed applications in fields from energy storage and molecular electronics to quantum communications. However, their optical properties and vibrational modes are so far not well understood. Furthermore, it is not yet clear how these are affected by the radical oxidation state, which is key to understanding their electronic transport. Here, we identify the properties of 1,2,4-benzotriazin-4-yl, a stable doubly thiolated variant of the Blatter radical, using surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Embedding molecular monolayers in plasmonic nanocavities gives access to their vibrational modes, photoluminescence, and optical response during redox processes. We reveal the influence of the adjacent metallic surfaces and identify fluctuating SERS signals that suggest a coupling between the unpaired radical electron and a spatially overlapping vibrational mode. This can potentially be exploited for information-storage devices and chemically designed molecular qubits.

The Effect of High Pressure on Polymorphs of a Derivative of Blatter's Radical: Identification of the Structural Signatures of Subtle Phase Transitions

The effect of pressure on the α and β polymorphs of a derivative of Blatter's radical, 3-phenyl-1-(pyrid-2-yl)-1,4-dihydrobenzo[e][1,2,4]triazin-4-yl, has been investigated using single-crystal X-ray diffraction to maximum pressures of 5.76 and 7.42 GPa, respectively. The most compressible crystallographic direction in both structures lies parallel to π-stacking interactions, which semiempirical Pixel calculations indicate are also the strongest interactions present. The mechanism of compression in perpendicular directions is determined by void distributions. Discontinuities in the vibrational frequencies observed in Raman spectra measured between ambient pressure and ∼5.5 GPa show that both polymorphs undergo phase transitions, the α phase at 0.8 GPa and the β phase at 2.1 GPa. The structural signatures of the transitions, which signal the onset of compression of initially more rigid intermolecular contacts, were identified from the trends in the occupied and unoccupied volumes of the unit cell with pressure and in the case of the β phase by deviations from an ideal model of compression defined by Birch-Murnaghan equations of state.

A first-order phase transition in Blatter's radical at high pressure

The crystal structure of Blatter's radical (1,3-diphenyl-1,4-dihydrobenzo[e][1,2,4]triazin-4-yl) has been investigated between ambient pressure and 6.07 GPa. The sample remains in a compressed form of the ambient-pressure phase up to 5.34 GPa, the largest direction of strain being parallel to the direction of π-stacking interactions. The bulk modulus is 7.4 (6) GPa, with a pressure derivative equal to 9.33 (11). As pressure increases, the phenyl groups attached to the N1 and C3 positions of the triazinyl moieties of neighbouring pairs of molecules approach each other, causing the former to begin to rotate between 3.42 to 5.34 GPa. The onset of this phenyl rotation may be interpreted as a second-order phase transition which introduces a new mode for accommodating pressure. It is premonitory to a first-order isosymmetric phase transition which occurs on increasing pressure from 5.34 to 5.54 GPa. Although the phase transition is driven by volume minimization, rather than relief of unfavourable contacts, it is accompanied by a sharp jump in the orientation of the rotation angle of the phenyl group. DFT calculations suggest that the adoption of a more planar conformation by the triazinyl moiety at the phase transition can be attributed to relief of intramolecular H...H contacts at the transition. Although no dimerization of the radicals occurs, the π-stacking interactions are compressed by 0.341 (3) Å between ambient pressure and 6.07 GPa.

"Upper" Ring Expansion of the Planar Blatter Radical via Photocyclization: Limitations and Impact on the Electronic Structure

Photocyclization of 8-aryloxybenzo[e][1,2,4]triazines leads to the formation of π-expanded flat Blatter radicals for three phenanthryloxy and pyren-1-yloxy derivatives, whereas no photoreaction is observed for the perylen-3-yloxy precursor. Two of the new radicals are nonplanar, out of which one is unstable to isolation. The radical with the fused pyrene ring constitutes the largest thus far paramagnetic polycyclic π-system containing seven fused rings with 27 sp²-hybridized atoms and 29 π-delocalized electrons. The investigation of the reaction conditions demonstrated the higher efficiency of photoformation of the parent radical in polar solvents, which suggests a polar transition state and the S₁ photoreactive state. The effect of π expansion on the electronic structure was investigated with spectroscopic (UV-vis, electron paramagnetic resonance) and electrochemical methods augmented with density functional theory computational studies. The molecular structure of one of the radicals was determined with a single-crystal X-ray diffraction method.

Planar Blatter radicals through Bu3SnH- and TMS3SiH-assisted cyclization of aryl iodides: azaphilic radical addition

Radical chain cyclization of aryl iodides provides an efficient synthesis of planar Blatter radicals, and, for the first time, access to functionalized sulphur-containing analogues.

o-Semiquinone radical anion isolated as an amorphous porous solid

The use of metal cations is a commonly applied strategy to create S > 1/2 stable molecular systems containing semiquinone radicals. Persistent mono-semiquinonato complexes of diamagnetic metal ions (S = 1/2) have been hitherto less common and mostly limited to the complexes of heavy metal ions. In this work, a mono-semiquinonato complex of aluminum, derived from 1,2-dihydroxybenzene, is obtained using a surprisingly short and uncomplicated procedure. The isolated product is an amorphous and porous solid that exhibits very good stability under ambient conditions. To characterise its molecular and electronic structure, 9.7, 34 and 406 GHz EPR spectroscopy was used in concert with computational techniques (DFT and DLPNO-CCSD). It was revealed that the radical complex is composed of two chemically equivalent aluminum cations and two catechol-like ligands with the unpaired electron uniformly distributed between the two organic molecules. The good stability and porous structure make this complex applicable in heterogeneous aerobic reactions.

Substituent effects on the electronic structure of the flat Blatter radical: correlation analysis of experimental and computational data

Functionalized flat Blatter radicals were obtained and substituent effects on spectroscopy, electrochemistry, and stability were investigated by correlation and DFT methods.

Effect of π-System Extension on the Ionization Energy of the Planar Blatter Radical: Experimental and Theoretical Studies

Fusion of benzene, naphthalene, and phenalene rings with the D ring of the planar Blatter radical leads to extension of the π-system and increased spin delocalization. The effect of this π-extension and the position of the ring fusion on the electronic structure of the radicals was investigated by UV-photoelectron spectroscopy and DFT CAM-B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) method. The experimental data obtained for 3 out of 8 derivatives were correlated with DFT-derived ionization energies.