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The first SnI diradical [(ADCPh)Sn]2 (4) based on an anionic dicarbene (ADCPh={CN(Dipp)}2CPh; Dipp=2,6‐iPr2C6H3) scaffold has been isolated as a green crystalline solid by KC8 reduction of the corresponding bis‐chlorostannylene [(ADCPh)SnCl]2 (3). The six‐membered C4Sn2‐ring of 4 containing six π‐electrons shows a diatropic ring current, thus 4 may also be regarded as the first 1,4‐distannabenzene derivative. DFT calculations suggest an open‐shell singlet (OS) ground state of 4 with a remarkably small singlet–triplet energy gap (ΔEOS–T=4.4 kcal mol−1), which is consistent with CASSCF (ΔES–T=6.6 kcal mol−1 and diradical character y=37 %) calculations. The diradical 4 splits H2 at room temperature to yield the bis‐hydridostannylene [(ADCPh)SnH]2 (5). Further reactivity of 4 has been studied with PhSeSePh and MeOTf. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore stable organic diradicaloids, meso-thienylquinonoid-substituted porphyrins Pn and hexaphyrins Hn, where 'n' denotes the number of thienyl units in the meso-substituents, were synthesized. P0 was identified as a closed-shell quinonoid, whereas P1 was shown to possess significant diradical character with diradical character index ( y) of 0.99 and quite small singlet-triplet energy gap (Δ ES-T) of −0.13 kcal mol−1. P1 was certainly stable, allowing its isolation, but decomposed gradually in solution. In the hexaphyrin series, it was shown that H0 and H1 were closed-shell quinonoids, but H2 was a highly stable diradicaloid with y=0.85 and Δ ES-T of −3.72 kcal mol−1. The high stability of H2 was ascribed to effective spin delocalization over the entire conjugated network. Characteristically, H2 displays an intense absorption band in NIR region at λmax=1175 nm with molar absorption coefficient ( ϵ) of 8.81×104 mol−1 L cm−1, a narrow HOMO-LUMO gap of 0.69 eV, and nine reversible redox potential waves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher acenes have drawn much attention as promising organic semiconductors with versatile electronic properties. However, the nature of their ground state and electronic excited states is still not fully clear. Their unusual chemical reactivity and instability are the main obstacles for experimental studies, and the potentially prominent diradical character, which might require a multireference description in such large systems, hinders theoretical investigations. Here, we provide a detailed answer with the particle-particle random-phase approximation calculation. The ¹Ag ground states of acenes up to decacene are on the closed-shell side of the diradical continuum, whereas the ground state of undecacene and dodecacene tilts more to the open-shell side with a growing polyradical character. The ground state of all acenes has covalent nature with respect to both short and long axes. The lowest triplet state ³B2u is always above the singlet ground state even though the energy gap could be vanishingly small in the polyacene limit. The bright singlet excited state ¹B2u is a zwitterionic state to the short axis. The excited ¹Ag state gradually switches from a double-excitation state to another zwitterionic state to the short axis, but always keeps its covalent nature to the long axis. An energy crossing between the ¹B2u and excited ¹Ag states happens between hexacene and heptacene. Further energetic consideration suggests that higher acenes are likely to undergo singlet fission with a low photovoltaic efficiency; however, the efficiency might be improved if a singlet fission into multiple triplets could be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: There is evidence that the crystalline-state thermochromic behavior of dispiropyracene acr-1 with an ultralong C–C bond [1.791(3)Å at 413K, 1.771(3)Å at 93K] might be due to thermal generation of a bond-dissociated triplet diradical. The C1–C2 bond lengths (d) in the newly prepared 1,1,2,2-tetraarylpyracenes 1a–e [1.717(4)–1.761(4)Å at 113/123/153K] are also much larger than the standard value for C(sp3)–C(sp3) (1.54Å). The fact that there is no correlation between d and the radical-stabilizing parameter (σ•) provides evidence that there is no contribution from a crystallographic artifact caused by contamination of the diradical in the crystal of 1 at room temperature or below. Further indication for the covalent nature of the ultralong C–C bond in tetraphenylpyracene 1c was attained by Raman spectroscopy, showing the far red-shifted C1–C2 stretching vibration (638cm−1) and by the theoretical prediction of very large vertical singlet–triplet energy gap (58.3kcalmol−1 at the UB3LYP/6-31G∗ level). However, at elevated temperatures bond dissociation might occur forming a triplet diradical. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Mesoionics are neutral compounds that cannot be represented by a fully covalent or purely ionic structure. Among the possible mesomeric structures of these compounds are the diradical electronic configurations. Theoretical and experimental studies indicate that some mesoionic rings are unstable, which may be related to a significant diradical character, that until then is not quantified. In this work, we investigated the diradical character of four heterocycles: 1,3-oxazol-5-one, 1,3-oxazol-5-thione, 1,3-thiazole-5-one, and 1,3-thiazole-5-thione. The oxazoles are known to be significatively less stable than thiazoles. DFT and ab initio single (B3LYP, MP2, CCSD, and QCISD) and ab initio multi-reference (MR-CISD) methods with three basis sets (6-311+G(d), aug-cc-pVDZ, and aug-cc-pVTZ) were employed to assess the diradical character of the investigated systems, in gas phase and DMSO solvent, from three criteria: (i) HOMO-LUMO energy gap, (ii) determination of energy difference between singlet and triplet wave functions, and (iii) quantification of the most significant diradical character (y0, determined in the unrestricted formalism). All of the results showed that the diradical character of the investigated systems is very small. However, the calculated electronic structures made it possible to identify the possible origin of the oxazoles instability, which can help the design of mesoionic systems with the desired properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]