Thermalization, matrix isolation

Xenon dichloride [13780-38-6], XeCl, and xenon(II) chloroduoride [73378-52-6], XeClE, have been prepared by photochemical and electric discharge methods and have been examined at low temperatures by matrix-isolation techniques (39,40). The dichloride has a linear stmcture like that of XeE2. Evidence for the existence of XeCl2, XeBr2, and xenon tetrachloride [14989-42-5], XeCl, has been obtained from Mn ssbauer studies (41,42). Owing to thermal chemical instabiUties, no dihaUde other than the binary duorides has been prepared in macroscopic amounts. 

From the foregoing it is clear that BH3 is a fugitive reaction species it exists only at exceedingly low concentrations but can be isolated and studied using matrix isolation techniques. Thus it can be generated by thermal dissociation of loosely bound 1 1 adducts with Lewis bases, such as PF3.BH3, and its reactions studied. 1 The relative stability of the adducts L.BH3 has been determined from thermochemical and spectroscopic data and leads to the following unusual sequence ... 

S-37 (see above) it is also possible to prepare and to matrix-isolate the silicon species 124, 125, and 126, which again exist in a photoequilibrium. Our first entry to 1-silacyclopropenylidene (124) was the pulsed flash pyrolysis of 2-ethynyl-l,l,l-trimethyldisilane (123).71,72 Even though the structure of educt molecule 123 suggests formation of ethynylsilylene (125), the isolated product was 124. Obviously 125 had already thermally isomerized to the most stable isomer 124 before the products were condensed at 10 K. 

Halogen substitution is expected to increase the electrophilicity of the carbenes, and in particular lh with four fluorine substituents is expected to be highly electrophilic and of unusual reactivity. All the carbenes le-g could be matrix-isolated by irradiation of their corresponding quinone diazides 2 in argon at 8-10 K.24 68,62 Again, the thermal reaction in (Vdoped matrices results in the formation of quinone oxides 7, which show the expected photochemical rearrangement to the spiro dioxiranes 8 and finally lactones 9. 

The thermal reaction of matrix-isolated lh with acetylene leads to the formation of the intensely red-colored vinylcarbene 18 as the primary product.62 This carbene, which can also be formulated as a 1,3-diradical, has a triplet ground state and is thus formed in a spin-allowed reaction from triplet carbene lh (Scheme... 

Dehydrophenol 20i is a tautomeric form of carbene la, and a [1,3]-H migration should in principal interconvert these species. However, under the conditions of matrix isolation the benzynes 201—1 are thermally and photochemically stable towards rearrangement to the corresponding carbenes. UV irradiation of 20i results in a ring-opening and formation of so far unidentified acetylenic products. 

Carbene lv is photolabile, and 400 nm irradiation produces a mixture of products.108 By comparison with calculated IR spectra the major product was identified as cyclopropene 3v. The formation of 3v is irreversible, and it cannot be thermally (by annealing the matrix) nor photochemically converted back to carbene lv. The lv -> 3v rearrangement is calculated (B3LYP/6-31G(d) + ZPE) to be endothermic by only 5.4 kcal/mol with an activation barrier of 18.2 kcal/mol. Due to the two Si-C bonds in the five-membered ring of 3v this cyclopropene is less strained than 3s, which is reflected by the smaller destabilization relative to carbene lv. The thermal energy available at temperatures below 40 K is much too low to overcome the calculated barrier of 12.8 kcal/mol for the rearrangement of 3v back to lv, and consequently 3v is stable under the conditions of matrix isolation. 

Thermal decomposition (with generation of neutral sulfur species, e.g., of 82,). The main gaseous product of thermal decomposition at rather low temperatures (100-200°C) of Cs2[Mo2(82)6]-reH20 is the 82 molecule, which results by reductive elimination. This has been proved by mass spectroscopy and matrix isolation Raman, UV/VI8, and IR spectroscopy (67,107). 

It is of course important to realize that the technique of matrix isolation also has its limits, or that certain conditions must be fulfilled so that it can be applied. The first and most important one is that the precursor of the reactive intermediate to be studied must be an isolable substance and volatilizable without decomposition, which sets limits on the size of species that can be studied and/or on their thermal lability. Thus many interesting compounds (e.g. of biological relevance) are excluded, at least in their native forms. Also very nonvolatile substrates, such as metals, require special techniques such as Knudsen cells for controlled evaporation. 

An intriguing aspect of matrix isolated biradicals is that they can in some cases persist in two different spin states, which may even be interconverted photochemi-cally or thermally. The reader is referred to Chapter 5 in this volume for a more detailed discussion of this phenomenon. 

---