Stable Room Temperature Nitrenes Created by Photolysis of Crystalline 4-Azido-2,3,5,6-tetrafluorobenzoic Acid

The structure, spectroscopy, and photochemistry of 4-azidobenzoic acid (4ABC) and its perfluorinated analog 4-azido-2,3,5,6-tetrafluorobenzoic acid (4F4ABC) are characterized in frozen glasses and crystals. Photolysis of the parent azides leads to the production of nitrenes and other spin species that are probed by electron paramagnetic resonance and optical spectroscopy. Shifts in the absorption spectra for both the parent azides and the nitrenes were well reproduced using density functional calculations. Photolysis generates ∼10× higher yield of the triplet nitrene relative to the quintet and radical side-products in 4F4ABC, while the opposite ratio is observed in 4ABC. An annealing step further suppressed the side-products in 4F4ABC, creating a solid where nitrenes were the dominant spin species. The nitrene in the 4F4ABC crystal has a 1/e lifetime of 20 days at room temperature in open air. This stability makes it possible to photopattern nitrene centers into a single crystal and characterize their photoluminescence. Multiple observations suggest that the remarkable stability in the 4F4ABC crystal is a consequence of crystal packing that traps N2 molecules adjacent to the nitrene. The ability to create stable, solid-state nitrene samples may provide a route to organic high-spin materials with potential applications in spintronics and quantum information science.