Triphenylmethyl radicals, dimerization discovery

Interestingly, although the dimer of triphenylmethyl radical was thought to be the expected hexaphenylethane for some 60 years, we now know the correct structure of the dimer that exists in equilibrium with triphenylmethyl radical—it is not an ethane derivative.Indeed, although pentaphenylethane (C4>3— CHO2) exists and has abnormally long C—C bonds, almost a century after Gomberg s discovery, hexaphenylethane continues to elude clever modern chemists. ... 

Steric effects have been discussed in free radical chemistry ever since the discovery of the first free radical, triphenylmethyl 1 by M. Gomberg in 19001. To what extent is the dissociation of its dimer, which was believed to be hexaphenylethane 23 till 19682 determined by electronic stabilization of triphenylmethyl 1 or by steric strain in its dimer ... 

In the paper published in 1900, he reported that hexaphenylethane (2) existed in an equilibrium mixture with 1. In 1968, the structure of the dimer of 1 was corrected to be l-diphenylmethylene-4-triphenylmethyl-2,5-cyclohexadiene 3, not 2 [38]. Since Gomberg s discovery, a number of stable radicals have been synthesized and characterized, e.g., triarylmethyls, phenoxyls, diphenylpicryl-hydrazyl and its analogs, and nitroxides [39-43]. The radical 1 is stable, if oxygen, iodine, and other materials which react easily with it are absent. Such stable radicals scarcely initiate vinyl polymerization, but they easily combine with reactive (short-lived) propagating radicals to form non-paramagnetic compounds. Thus, these stable radicals have been used as radical scavengers or polymerization inhibitors in radical polymerization. 

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