CONTRASTING CHEMISTRY OF DIPHENYLCARBENE AND FLUORENYLIDENE IN CYCLOHEXANE

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/S0040-4020(01)90595-2

The chemistry of diphenylcarbene and fluorenylidene in cyclohexane was investigated.An examination of the product distributions, radical scavening experiments and isotopic fractionation established that diphenylcarbene reacts with cyclohexane predominantly, if not exclusively, through its triplet state whereas fluorenylidene exhibits substantial chemistry from its low lying singlet state in addition to some triplet chemistry.The results indicate that the singlet-triplet splitting of fluorenylidene is smaller than in diphenylcarbene.The chemical studies are in accord with previous laser flash photolysis experiments.