Photolysis of covalent compounds composed of stable anions and cations. Transient absorption studies on coordination complexes formed from the triphenylcyclopropenyl cation and malononitrilo, acetonitrilo, and fluorenyl anions

A series of molecules (1,2,-triphenylcyclopropene, [3-(1,2,3-triphenylcyclopropenyl)](4'-cyanophenyl) malonitrile, [3-(1,2,3-triphenylcyclopropenyl)](4'-nitrophenyl) malonitrile, [3-(1,2,3-triphenylcyclopropenyl)](3'-nitrophenyl) malonitrile, [3-(1,2,3-triphenylcyclopropenyl)](4'-nitrophenyl) acetonitrile, and [3-(1,2,3-triphenylcyclopropenyl)]-9'-cyanofluorene, each composed of a stable carbanion and carbocation covalently attached to each other, has been photolysed with use of picosecond and nanosecond laser techniques. These molecules undergo a sequence of events that begins with absorption of a photon by one of two localized chromophores in each precursor (i.e., the stilbene of TPCP or the aryl portion of the starting carbanion)