A Kinetically Stabilized Nitrogen-Doped Triangulene Cation: Stable and NIR Fluorescent Diradical Cation with Triplet Ground State

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2023 Jul 17;62(29):e202302714. doi: 10.1002/anie.202302714. Epub 2023 Jun 12.

Abstract

A kinetically-stabilized nitrogen-doped triangulene cation derivative has been synthesized and isolated as the stable diradical with a triplet ground state that exhibits near-infrared emission. As was the case for a triangulene derivative we previously synthesized, the triplet ground state with a large singlet-triplet energy gap was experimentally confirmed by magnetic measurements. In contrast to the triangulene derivative, the nitrogen-doped triangulene cation derivative is highly stable even in solution under air and exhibits near-infrared absorption and emission because the alternancy symmetry of triangulene is broken by the nitrogen cation. Breaking the alternancy symmetry of triplet alternant hydrocarbon diradicals by a nitrogen cation would therefore be an effective strategy to create stable diradicals possessing magnetic properties similar to the parent hydrocarbons but with different electrochemical and photophysical properties.

Keywords: Diradicals; NIR Fluorescence; Polycycles; Triangulene; Triplet Ground State.