The carbon–bromine bonds can be fragmented in two successive steps by voltage pulses from tip of a scanning tunneling microscope.
The resulting carbon radicals are stabilized by the sodium chloride substrate on which the 9,10-dibromoanthracene reactant was placed.
Further voltage pulses cause the diradical to convert to a diyne (or back again) via a Bergman cyclization reaction.
The carbon–bromine bonds can be fragmented in two successive steps by voltage pulses from tip of a scanning tunneling microscope. The resulting carbon radicals are stabilized by the sodium chloride substrate on which the 9,10-dibromoanthracene reactant was placed. Further voltage pulses cause the diradical to convert to a diyne (or back again) via a Bergman cyclization reaction.
9,10-Dibromoanthracene