JOURNAL OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY, v.76, no.9, pp.3239 - 3245
Abstract
Coupling of various 4-substituted phenyl azides with two distinct quinone-containing N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) afforded the respective mono- and ditopic 1,3-disubstituted acyclic triazenes in moderate to excellent yields (38-92%). Depending on their pendant substituents (derived from the azides), the acyclic triazenes exhibited intense absorptions in the visible spectrum (359-428 nm), which were bathochromically shifted by up to Delta lambda = 68 nm upon reduction of the quinone moiety on the component derived from the NHC. Cyclic voltammetry confirmed that the aforementioned redox processes were reversible, and a related set of UV-vis spectroelectrochemical experiments revealed that bulk electrolysis may also be used to switch reversibly the colors exhibited by these triazenes.