[11]Cycloparaphenylene incorporating a redox-active dithiafulvene moiety provides access to a carbon nanohoop with an unpaired electron along the core

Herein we report an [11]CPP incorporating a dithiafulvene electron donor and its properties in neutral and radical cationic forms. The donor results in a redshifted longest-wavelength absorption band and reversible one- and two-electron oxidations. Generation of the radical cation formally generates a CPP with an unpaired electron delocalized in a neutral backbone (with a positively charged dithiolium appendage), implying two new aborptions in the visible and NIR regions.