Sulfur‐containing vinyl monomers. XII. Charge transfer complexes of thioethylene derivatives with π‐electron acceptors

Abstract

AbstractThe absorption spectra of charge‐transfer (CT) complexes of thioethylene derivatives with p‐chloranil (CA), tetracyanoethylene (TCNE), and 7,7,8,8,‐tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) were measured in methylene chloride. Since the CT bands of alkyl vinyl sulfides having bulky substituents such as isopropyl, cyclohexyl and tert‐butyl were similar to that of methyl vinyl sulfide, the complexing site of these sulfides to acceptor was assumed to be the vinyl group rather than the sulfur atom. In the case of the TCNE complex of phenyl vinyl sulfide, however, a new second CT band at 378 nm was observed, and the first CT band was also close to that of ethyl phenyl sulfide, indicating that the TCNE formed a complex with this vinyl sulfide mainly at its phenyl group. To investigate further the conformation of the complex, CT spectra of bis‐, tris‐ and tetrakis (phenylthio) ethylenes were measured. These compounds showed markedly different CT bands, and the changes in these CT bands with the number of the phenylthio substituents appears to be attributable to the change in complexing site with the acceptors used.