Disproportionation and Structural Changes of Tetraarylethylene Donors upon Successive Oxidation to Cation Radicals and to Dications

The stepwise (one-electron) chemical oxidation of the tetraphenylethylene donor and its substituted analogues (D) can be carried out by electron exchange with aromatic cations or antimony(V) oxidants to selectively afford the cation radical (D+•) initially and then the dication (D2+). The ready interchange of the latter establishes the facile disproportionation (i.e., 2D+• ⇌ D2+ + D) that was originally examined by only transient electrochemical techniques. The successful isolations of the crystalline salts of the tetraanisylethylene cation radical (1+•) as well as the tetraanisylethylene dication (12+) allow X-ray diffraction analysis (for the first time) to quantify the serial changes in the molecular structure upon successive oxidations. Five structural parameters (d, l, θ, φ, and q) are identified as quantitative measures of changes in bond (CαCβ, Cαanisyl) lengths, dihedral (CαCβ)/torsional (anisyl) angles, and quinoidal (anisyl) distortion attendant upon the removal of first one-electron and then an...