Perchlorophenalenyl Radical

We report the preparation and solid-state characterization of the perchlorophenalenyl radical (1). The radical is initially obtained as a yellow-green solid by reduction of the perchlorophenalenium salt (12⁺). This solid sublimes in a sealed tube to give black shiny hexagonal crystals of the perchlorophenalenyl radical (1). The structure consists of 1-dimensional stacks of the monomeric radical. The peri-chlorine atoms force the phenalenyl system to be strongly nonplanar leading to a large separation between adjacent molecules within the stacks (3.78 Å), and the molecules adopt two distinct stacking motifs (quasisuperimposed and rotated by 60° with respect to neighbors). Because of the packing frustration in the lattice and the large intermolecular spacing, the solid shows Curie paramagnetism in the temperature range 100−400 K, before antiferromagnetic coupling sets in at low temperatures. Due to the narrow bandwidth that results from the isolation of the individual molecules, the solid is a Mott−Hubbard insulator, with a room-temperature conductivity of ρ_RT = 10^-10 S/cm.