Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.118, No.37, 8871-8874, 1996
Anion-Molecule Approaches Non-Kekule Molecules - The Radical-Anion of Cyclopentadienylidenetrimethylenemethane and Derivatives
Cyclopentadienylidenetrimethylenemethane radical anion 4, the one-electron reduction product of the corresponding diradical 3, was generated by a gas phase ion-molecule reaction of 6,6-dimethylfulvene (5) with O-.-. Characterization was carried out by isotopic labeling to confirm the distonic structure of the radical anion. The results suggest that negative ion photoelectron spectroscopic experiments can be used to resolve a conflict between theories regarding the nature (singlet or triplet) of the ground state of 3. In reactivity studies, the radical anion 4 is a better nucleophile than its corresponding anion 6, a result similar to that found for the tetramethyleneethane radical anion 1. The basicity of the radical anion 4 has been bracketed at approximately 354 +/- 3 kcal/mol. This study contains the first evidence that a distonic radical anion can react as a radical as well as an anion, a result that will lead to further gas phase examination of the radicals in the distonic ion series.