title: The cyclooctatriene-eta2-ynyl potassium zwitterionic radical: evidence for a potassium organometallic.
abstract: Low-temperature (-120 degrees C) dehydrohalogenation of bromocyclooctatetraene (BrC8H7) with either sodium or potassium tert-butoxide followed by alkali metal reduction was used to generate the anion radical of [8]annulyne (C8H6*-) in tetrahydrofuran. EPR analysis at -120 degrees C reveals an extraordinarily large metal splitting when K or Cs (aK of 0.214 G and aCs of 3.26 G) serves as the reducing agent. The large aM is due to the metal cation interacting with the p-orbitals, within the alkyne moiety, that are in the plane of the ring system. The ionic radius of K+ is 1.33 A, which is larger than the B3LYP predicted distance between carbons 1 and 2 (1.23 A). However, the ionic radius of Na+ is only 0.95 A, and it is too small to simultaneously interact with both p-orbitals. Hence, no aM is observed when Na (ordinarily aNa > aK) or Li serves as the reducing agent. After the addition of 18-crown-6 to either the K or the Cs reduced system, two anion radicals are present. One is the system where the 18-crown-6 encapsulated metal complex is normally ion paired over the face of the ring system and aM = 0. The other is the cyclooctatriene-eta2-ynyl 18-crown-6 encapsulated metal zwitterion radical exhibiting a large aM. The ion pair to organometallic equilibrium constant is 1.6 +/- 0.1 and 3.5 +/- 0.1 for the K and Cs systems, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois 61790-4160, USA.
authors.forename: Steven J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.forename: Matthew R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Turk
authors.forename: Matthew K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Kiesewetter
authors.forename: Richard C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Reiter
authors.forename: Cheryl D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Stevenson