Nitroxide radicals appended to phthalonitriles: synthesis, structural characterization and photo-physical properties

Abstract

The syntheses of 4-[4-(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-2-imidazoline-3-oxide-1-oxyl-2-yl)phenoxy]phthalonitrile (3, C21H19N4O3) and 4-[4-(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-2-imidazoline-1-oxyl-2-yl)phenoxy]phthalonitrile (4) were carried out by microwaveassisted nucleophilic aromatic substitution of 4-nitrophthalonitrile (2) by the pre-formed 2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-2- imidazoline-3-oxide-1oxyl (1). Compounds 3 and 4 were characterized unambiguously by a rich array of analyses, such as melting point, FT-IR, MALDI-TOF MS, elemental analysis, UV-Vis, CV, EPR, magnetic measurements and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Structural studies demonstrate that the C-H center dot center dot center dot X and C-X center dot center dot center dot(X = O and N) interactions in the radical nitronyl nitroxide groups play an important role in the assembly of the crystal structures. Moreover, cyclic voltammetry analyses show that the phthalonitrile substituent retains the redox properties of the Ullman radicals.