Cyclooctatetraenes radical ions

Pairs of radical ions of like charge also react by electron transfer (i.e., they disproportionate). One classic example involves reduction of tetraphenylethylene and subsequent ET between two tetraphenylethylene anions. A more recent interesting example is that of cyclooctatetrene radical anion 148 . Alkali metals readily reduce the nonplanar cyclooctatetraene, generating a persistent planar radical anion... 

Interestingly, the radical cation 138 can be generated also by light-induced isomerization of cyclooctatetraene radical cation (140). The conversion of the red non-planar ion 140 (4n - 1 n electrons) upon irradiation with visible light had been observed previously [395], but the blue photo-product had not been recognized as the cyclic conjugated species 138 with 4n + 1 n electrons. This interconversion is one of only a few orbital symmetry allowed processes documented in radical cation chemistry [393]. 

Cyclooctatetraene was reduced electrochemically to cyclooctatetraenyl dianion. In DMF the product is mostly (92%) 1,3,5-cyclooctatriene at —1.2 V. If the potential is lowered the main product is 1,3,6-cyclooctatriene. Previous experiments, in which the anion radical was found to be disproportionated, were explained on the basis of reactions of the cyclooctatetraene dianion with alkali metal ions to form tightly bound complexes, or with water to form cyclooctatrienes. The first electron transfer to cyclooctatetraene is slow and proceeds via a transition state which resembles planar cyclooctatetraene102. 

Electro-optical modulators are other examples whose efficiency is enhanced in the presence of ion-radicals. These devices are based on the sandwich-type electrode structures containing organic layers as the electron/hole-injecting layers at the interface between the electrode and the emitter layer. The presence of ion-radicals lowers the barrier height for the electron or hole injection. Anion-radicals (e.g., anion-radicals from 4,7-diphenyl-l,10-phenanthroline—Kido and Matsumoto 1998 from tetra (arylethynyl) cyclooctatetraenes—Lu et al. 2000 from bis (1-octylamino) perylene-3,4 9,10-bis (dicarboximide)s— Ahrens et al. 2006) or cation-radicals (e.g., cation-radicals from a-sexithienyl—Kurata et al. 1998 l,l-diphenyl-2-[phenyl-4-A/,A- /i(4 -methylphenyl)] ethylene— Umeda et al. 1990, 2000), all of them are electron or hole carriers. 

Besides the common alkali-metal reduction method for the production of anion-radicals, other electron-transfer reagents have been used for the production of radicals relevant in this section. Todres and co-workers have used cyclooctatetraene dianion and have examined the redox equilibria of this reductant and various substituted substrates. Radical 225 has also been produced by reduction of the precursor with organometallic reagents in the presence of transition-metal ions. ... 

A cell (Fig. 54) that allowed the precise control of potential and current was designed by Goldberg and Bard, who also demonstrated the advantage of combining ESR spectroscopy with electrochemical techniques such as CA, CV, and chronopotentiometry [366]. The latter approach was taken in a study of the reduction of cyclooctatetraene (COT) in which it was demonstrated that the COT radical anion is stable in the presence of tetra-butylammonium ion, which had been a matter of dispute in previous work [378] (Fig. 55). 

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