Stability milestone for nitrene

Carbenes’ evolution from laboratory curiosity to synthetic workhorse can be traced back to a couple of studies that proved persistent carbenes were attainable. Research we reported on last week perhaps resembles a similarly seminal moment for nitrenes. It describes the synthesis of an arylnitrene with a triplet ground state that remained stable for three days when stored under argon at room temperature – all thanks to support from a very bulky and rigid ligand.