New Horizons in Organic Electron Transfer

每一个学习化学的小学生都会熟悉钠金属在水中的反应性。钠是一种反应性极强的物质，很容易失去一个电子成为钠离子。其他金属也或多或少容易转移电子，有机分子（不含金属）如果结构合适，也可以转移电子。然而，中性有机分子能够充当强电子供体是极不寻常的。我们已经制备了强电子供体，并发现了第一个能够通过严格测试的中性有机分子，即将卤代苯转化为芳基阴离子。这种反应性是前所未有的，它为我们提供了令人兴奋的进一步发现的机会。我们现在的目标是探索新化学的许多方面，以确定它有多有用，并推动我们知识的极限。随着我们转向越来越强大的有机电子供体，我们面临着创造一种与钠反应性相当的有机分子的诱人前景。然而，我们的分子比钠更安全，并且可以在反应瓶中以需要活化的形式运输。在这个项目中，我们将测试我们的分子，看看它的反应性极限，我们将设计以类似方式表现的新型分子家族。

Every school pupil who studies chemistry will be familiar with the reactivity of sodium metal in water. Sodium is an extremely reactive substance and readily loses an electron to become a sodium ion. Other metals also transfer electrons more or less readily.Organic molecules [containing no metals] can transfer an electron if their structures are appropriate. However, it is extremely unusual for a neutral organic molecule to be able to act as a strong electron donor. We have prepared strong electron donors and have discovered the first neutral organic molecule to be able to pass a stern test, i.e. to convert halobenzenes into aryl anions. The reactivity is unprecedented, and it gives us exciting opportunities to make further discoveries.Our aim now is to explore many aspects of the new chemistry to determine how useful it is and to push back the limits of our knowledge. As we move to more and more powerful organic electron donors, we face the tantalising prospect of creating an organic molecule equivalent in reactivity to sodium. However, our molecules would be safer than sodium and could be transported in a form that needs activation in a reaction flask.During this project we will test our molecule to see the limits of its reactivity, and we will design novel families of molecules that behave in an analogous way.