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Radicals of the lightest group 13 element, boron, are well established and observed in numerous forms. In contrast to boron, radical chemistry involving the heavier group 13 elements (aluminum, gallium, indium, and thallium) remains largely underexplored, primarily attributed to the formidable synthetic challenges associated with these elements. Herein, we report the synthesis and isolation of planar and twisted conformers of a doubly CAAC (cyclic alkyl(amino)carbene)‐radical‐substituted dialane. Extensive characterization through spectroscopic analyses and X‐ray crystallography confirms their identity, while quantum chemical calculations support their open‐shell nature and provide further insights into their electronic structures. The dialane‐connected diradicals exhibit high susceptibility to oxidation, as evidenced by electrochemical measurements and reactions with o‐chloranil and a variety of organic azides. This study opens a previously uncharted class of dialuminum systems to study, broadening the scope of diradical chemistry and its potential applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosphorus‐centered disbiradicals, in which the radical sites exist as individual spin doublets with weak spin‐spin interaction have not been known so far. Starting from monoradicals of the type [⋅P(μ‐NTer)2P−R], we have now succeeded in linking two such monoradical phosphorus centers by appropriate choice of a linker. To this end, biradical [⋅P(μ‐NTer)2P⋅] (1) was treated with 1,6‐dibromohexane, affording the brominated species {Br[P(μ‐NTer)]2}2C6H12 (3). Subsequent reduction with KC8 led to the formation of the disbiradical {⋅[P(μ‐NTer)]2}2C6H12 (4) featuring a large distance between the radical phosphorus sites in the solid state and formally the highest biradical character observed in a P‐centered biradical so far, approaching 100 %. EPR spectroscopy revealed a three‐line signal in solution with a considerably larger exchange interaction than would be expected from the molecular structure of the single crystal. Quantum chemical calculations revealed a highly dynamic conformational space; thus, the two radical sites can approach each other with a much smaller distance in solution. Further reduction of 4 resulted in the formation of a potassium salt featuring the first structurally characterized P‐centered distonic radical anion (5−). Moreover, 4 could be used in small molecule activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radicals based on arylamine cyclophanes can be used as functional materials and show application potential in fields such as synthetic chemistry, molecular electronic components, organic light-emitting diodes, and catalytic chemistry. Using a Buchwald–Hartwig palladium-catalyzed aryl halide amination method, we synthesized a series of neutral hexaazacyclophane compounds 1–3 with different substituents in the meta–meta–meta positions of the phenyl rings. Three characteristic high-spin hexaazacyclophane diradical dications were obtained by two-electron oxidation using AgSbF6: 12·+•2[SbF6]−, 22·+•2[SbF6]−, and 32·+•2[SbF6]−. The electronic structures and physical properties of these compounds were then investigated by 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, superconducting quantum interferometry, ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, and density functional theory calculations. The findings provide new ideas for designing radical species with novel physical properties and electronic structures. Importantly, the obtained radical species are not sensitive to air, making them valuable functional materials for practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon-centered radicals and diradicaloids based on classical N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) scaffolds are readily accessible as crystalline solids. The presence of an aryl (Ar) substituent at the C2-position is the key to the remarkable stability of these open-shell species as it provides appropriate room for the spin-density delocalization. Two catalytic as well as high-yielding protocols have been developed to install a suitable aryl group at the C2-position of NHCs. The spin-density in mono-radicals (NHCAr)• is mostly located on the parent carbene carbon (C2) atom. The bridging of two NHCs through a phenylene spacer (C6 H4) n enables the isolation of various p -quinodimethane (p -QDM) derivatives, which may be considered as open-shell Kekulé diradicaloids. The diradical character of these NHC-analogues of Thiele (n = 1), Chichibabin (n = 2), and Müller (n = 3) hydrocarbons [(NHC)(C6 H4) n (NHC)] can be tuned by a rational choice of the size and/or the topology of spacers. In this account, the synthesis, structure, and properties of this new class of radical hydrocarbons is presented. 1 Introduction 2 NHC-Monoradicals 3 NHC-Diradicaloids 4 Conclusion [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Highly selective synthesis of disulfide bonds in the gas phase. • Covalent bond formation to identify sites of noncovalent crown ether binding. • Both biradical and diradical species can be used for bond synthesis. Photoinitiated radical chemistry has proven to be useful for breaking covalent bonds within many biomolecules in the gas phase. Herein, we demonstrate that radical chemistry is useful for bond synthesis in the gas phase. Single peptides containing two cysteine residues capped with propylmercaptan (PM) often form disulfide bonds following ultraviolet excitation at 266 nm and loss of both PM groups. Similarly, noncovalently bound peptide pairs where each peptide contains a single cysteine residue can be induced to form disulfide bonds. Comparison with disulfide bound species sampled directly from solution yields identical collisional activation spectra, suggesting that native disulfide bonds have been recapitulated in the gas phase syntheses. Another approach utilizing radical chemistry for covalent bond synthesis involves creation of a reactive diradical that can first abstract hydrogen from a target peptide, creating a new radical site, and then recombine the second radical with the new radical to form a covalent bond. This chemistry is illustrated with 2-(hydroxymethyl-3,5-diiodobenzoate)-18-crown-6 ether, which attaches noncovalently to protonated primary amines in peptides and proteins. Following photoactivation and crosslinking, the site of noncovalent adduct attachment can frequently be determined. The ramifications of these observations on peptide structure and noncovalent attachment of 18-crown-6-based molecules is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The behavior of organo-aluminum species with 2,3-bis(2-pyridyl) quinoxaline (DPQ), a well-known polyazine capable of performing interesting radical transformations, was examined in the presence and absence of chromium. In spite of proving the presence of chromium as essential for reactivity, only organic radicals, coupled to aluminum-containing residues, have been isolated and characterized. The electronic structure of the organic radicals has been elucidated by a combination of crystallographic, DFT calculations and EPR studies. Experimental and computational work has highlighted the co-existence of both singlet and triplet forms in one di-radical complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DFT broken-symmetry calculations framework at the B3LYP/6-31G(d) level were carried out to evaluate the magnetic exchange coupling constants of four chalcogen-centered radical-C60 diadducts. The interactions of radicals, including O ̇ H, S ̇ H, S ̇ CH3, S ̇ C6H5 occurred in different relative positions. The calculated exchange coupling constants indicate that the coupling interaction regime changes when the radical centers and the relative distance of binding sites on C60 coupler change. In fact, the most intense ferromagnetic interaction occurs when radicals form a right-angle with the fullerene center. The shapes of singly occupied molecular orbital (SOMO) and spin density distribution of structures have also been studied. The energy splitting of the singly occupied molecular orbitals (Δ E SS ) confirm the broken symmetry results. The calculated isotropic hyperfine coupling constants (hfccs) show some differences in diradical-coupler complexes that can be employed in the experimental electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The antiaromatic compounds have received a great deal of attention for several decades because of their unusual electronic structures. The electronic structures and properties of antiaromatic pentalene and its six nitrogen heterocyclic derivatives were systematically studied by the density functional theory at the Becke, three-parameter, Lee-Yang-Parr level with 6-31G* basis set. The results indicated that all the monomers have stable singlet states and remarkable bond-length alternations. From the dimer to polymer in those molecules, pentalene(P), cyclopenta[ b]pyrrole(CPP), cyclopenta[ d]imidazole(CPI), pyrrolo[2,3- b]pyrrole(PP1) and pyrrolo[3,2- d]imidazole(PI) are stable diradical structures; pyrrolo[3,2- b]pyrrole (PP2) and imidazo[4,5- d]imidazole(II) are stable singlet ground states. The electronic properties including bond length, bond-length alternation, electron density at bond critical points, Wiberg bond index and nucleus-independent chemical shift were analyzed. It was found that in diradical molecules the bond-length alternations are diminished, the charge tends to equilibrate, the π-electron delocalization and conjugation are strengthened. The electronic properties of singlet ground state molecules have nearly no variations from monomers to polymers. The band structure analysis shows that diradical structure molecules have small band gaps (<1.0 eV), wide bandwidth and small effective masses of holes and electrons which suggest that diradical structure molecules are very good candidates for conductive materials. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have developed a method for analyzing the (hyper)polarizabilities of open-shell molecular systems. This method employs the (hyper)polarizability densities based on the natural orbitals and occupation numbers, which enables us to analyze the contributions of odd electrons having various open-shell (diradical) characters. Within broken-symmetry, i.e., spin-unrestricted, single-determinant molecular orbital and density functional theory approaches, we can also remove the spin contamination effects on these quantities through spin projection. To do that, an approximate spin projected method has been elaborated and applied to the analysis of the (hyper)polarizability of multi-radical systems. As examples, typical open-shell singlet systems, 1,3-dipoles and rectangular graphene nanoflakes, are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The isomeric 2-dehydro- and 4-dehydro-1,3-benzoquinodimethanes, 18 and 19, were generated by irradiation of the corresponding triiodo compounds in cryogenic argon matrices and characterized by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy. In agreement with multireference computations, both systems possess quartet ground states, whereas in the isomeric 5-dehydro- m-xylylene 20 the 2B2 doublet state lies energetically below the 4B2 state, so that no characteristic quartet signals could be observed for this triradical under similar experimental conditions. The best estimates for the adiabatic doublet-quartet energy splittings (CAS(7,7)-AQCC/cc-pVTZ//CAS(9,9)-RS2c/cc-pVTZ) of 18-20 are 10.4, 7.7, and −1.3 kcal/mol, respectively. The measured zero-field splitting parameters of 18 and 19 are discussed in terms of the contributions of carbenoid resonance structures (spin polarization of the π-system) to the resonance hybrid of the title triradicals. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]