Radical-anion intermediates. Part II. Radical anions of some benzofluorenes

Abstract

1,2-Benzofluorene, 2,3-benzofluorene, and 4,5-methylenephenanthrene react with alkali metals at –70 °C to give radical anions. At higher temperatures the radical anions are unstable and decay to give the corresponding anions. The rate of the decay was found to be sensitive to the nature of the hydrocarbon and the nature of the counterion, i.e., in general ΔG^‡ decreases with an increase in the size of the counterion. In each case the decay of these radical anions was found to be of the second order.