Study of a novel reaction between N,N′-diphenylthiourea and p-chloranil through a charge-transfer intermediate

Abstract

The well-known electron acceptor, p-chloranil (A) and donor, N,N′-diphenylthiourea (B) have been observed to form a labile charge-transfer (CT) complex (AB), which decays slowly into two products viz. 2,3,5-trichloro-6-(N,N′-diphenylthioureido)benzo-1,4-quinone (P) and 5,6-dichloro-2,3-(N,N′-diphenylthioureylene)benzo-1,4-quinone (Q). The final products have been isolated in pure form and one of them, P, has been shown to exhibit sensitive solvatochromism. A detailed kinetic study of the decay process of the CT complex has been carried out and based on kinetic data, the following steps have been suggested for the decay process.