Bismuth Amides Mediate Facile and Highly Selective Pn–Pn Radical Coupling Reactions (Pn = N, P, As)

The controlled release of well-defined radical species under mild conditions for subsequent use in selective reactions is an important and challenging task in synthetic chemistry. We show here that simple bismuth amide species [Bi(NAr2 )3 ] readily release aminyl radicals [NAr2 ]. at ambient temperature in solution. These reactions yield the corresponding hydrazines, Ar2 N-NAr2 , as a result of highly selective N-N coupling. The exploitation of facile homolytic Bi-Pn bond cleavage for Pn-Pn bond formation was extended to higher homologues of the pnictogens (Pn=N-As): homoleptic bismuth amides mediate the highly selective dehydrocoupling of HPnR2 to give R2 Pn-PnR2 . Analyses by NMR and EPR spectroscopy, single-crystal X-ray diffraction, and DFT calculations reveal low Bi-N homolytic bond-dissociation energies, suggest radical coupling in the coordination sphere of bismuth, and reveal electronic and steric parameters as effective tools to control these reactions.