Protonated Paramagnetic Redox Forms of Di--quinone Bridged with -phenylene-extended TTF: A EPR Spectroscopy Study

The chemical oxidation and reduction processes of deprotonated, direduced -quinone-exTTF--quinone in protic solvents were studied by EPR spectroscopy. The formation of relatively stable paramagnetic protonated redox forms of the parent triad was very surprising. The character of spin-density distribution in the semiquinone-quinone and semiquinone-catechol redox forms indicates that the -phenylene-extended tetrathiafulvalene connector provides a quite effective electronic communication channel between dioxolene coordination sites. It was found that the deprotonated, direduced -quinone-exTTF--quinone is capable to reduction of the metal copper in solution. The radical anion species formed in this reaction exists in solution as a solvent-separated ion pair with a copper cation. A character of spin-density distribution in a radical anion species leads to the conclusion that the ligand corresponds to type III of the Robin-Day classification.