Can the Philicity of Radicals Be Influenced by Oriented External Electric Fields?

Org Lett. 2022 Jan 14;24(1):1-5. doi: 10.1021/acs.orglett.1c02935. Epub 2021 Oct 15.

Abstract

Herein, the effects of an electric field on radicals are investigated for a set of model radicals with varying complexity. An electric field impacts the intrinsic philicity of a radical, as quantified by the global electrophilicity index, ω. The extent of change in philicity depends on the directionality and strength of the applied electric field and the dipole moment and polarizability of the radical.