Nitrene

As has been shown for phenylazide as a model system, the direct photoproduct of photochemical-induced N2 loss can either be the singlet or triplet nitrene.

In 2019, a triplet nitrene was isolated by Betley and Lancaster, stabilized by coordination to a copper center in a bulky ligand.

[11] Later on, Schneider and coworkers characterized Pd and Pt triplet metallonitrenes, where the organic residue is replaced by a metal.

[12][13][14] In 2024, the groups of Beckmann, Ye and Tan reported the isolation and characterization of organic triplet nitrenes, which are protected from chemical reactivity by an extremely bulky ligand.

[27] In this system one of the nitrogen unpaired electrons is delocalized in the aromatic ring making the compound a σ–σ–π triradical.