New Blatter-type radicals from a bench-stable carbene

Jacob A Grant, Zhou Lu, David E Tucker, Bryony M Hockin, Dmitry S Yufit, Mark A Fox, Ritu Kataky, Victor Chechik, AnnMarie C O'Donoghue

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Stable benzotriazinyl radicals (Blatter's radicals) recently attracted considerable interest as building blocks for functional materials. The existing strategies to derivatize Blatter's radicals are limited, however, and synthetic routes are complex. Here, we report that an inexpensive, commercially available, analytical reagent Nitron undergoes a previously unrecognized transformation in wet acetonitrile in the presence of air to yield a new Blatter-type radical with an amide group replacing a phenyl at the C(3)-position. This one-pot reaction of Nitron provides access to a range of previously inaccessible triazinyl radicals with excellent benchtop stabilities. Mechanistic investigation suggests that the reaction starts with a hydrolytic cleavage of the triazole ring followed by oxidative cyclization. Several derivatives of Nitron were prepared and converted into Blatter-type radicals to test the synthetic value of the new reaction. These results significantly expand the scope of using functionalized benzotriazinyls as stable radical building blocks.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)15088
Number of pages6
JournalNature Communications
Volume8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 May 2017

Bibliographical note

© The Author(s) 2017

Keywords

  • Journal Article

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