Carbenes singlet state

Stabilization of the singlet ground state of phosphinidenes can be induced by proper substitution. Such an approach has been applied to carbenes with great... 

UV-vis spectra of matrix-isolated intermediates are not so informative as matrix IR spectra. As a rule, an assignment of the UV spectrum to any intermediate follows after the identification of the latter by IR or esr spectroscopy. However, UV-vis spectra may sometimes be especially useful. It is well known, for example, that the energy of electronic transitions in singlet ground-state carbenes differs from that of the triplet species. In this way UV spectroscopy allows one to identify the ground state of the intermediate stabilized in the matrix in particular cases. This will be exemplified below. 

Each of the following carbenes has been predicted to have a singlet ground state, either as the result of qualitative structural considerations or theoretical calculations. Indicate what structural features might stabilize the singlet state in each case. 

The stereospecificity of addition suggests a singlet(10) carbene although the ground state of cyclopentadienylidene is known to be a triplet. Attempts to produce a triplet species, which would be expected to react nonstereospecific-ally, in a 4-methyl-cw-2-pentene matrix at 77°K or by dilution of mixtures of the azo compound and olefin with hexafluorobenzene or octafluorocyclo-butane (inert diluents) were unsuccessful. It was concluded that the singlet carbene produced upon photolysis reacts more rapidly with the olefinic... 

The addition of the methylmercuriacetylcarbene to cis- and //ms-butene was found to be completely stereospecific, suggesting that this carbene has a singlet ground state (with the heavy mercury atom, relaxation to the ground state should be rapid). 

We have seen that 1,2-H migrations in singlet carbenes may be affected by (e.g.) the participation of carbene precursor excited states, QMT, stabilization of the hydride shift transition state by polar solvents, and temperature. Here, we consider our third principal theme, the effect of substituents on the kinetics of carbenic rearrangements. We first examine the influence of bystander and spectator substituents (as defined in Eq. 22) on 1,2-H rearrangements of alkyl, alkylchloro, and alkylacetoxycarbenes. 

The reaction kinetics of 2-adamantanylidene (107) have been carefully investigated.118 119 Carbene 107 is computed to have a singlet ground state lying 4.8 kcal/mol below the triplet.120... 

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