Air-stable organic radicals and radical
ions have attracted great
attention for their far-reaching application ranging from bioimaging
to organic electronics. However, because of the highly reactive nature
of organic radicals, the design and synthesis of air-stable organic
radicals still remains a challenge. Herein, an air-stable organic
radical from a controllable photoinduced domino reaction of a hexa-aryl
substituted anthracene is described. The domino reaction involves
a photoinduced [4 + 2] cycloaddition reaction, rearrangement, photolysis,
and an elimination reaction; 1H/13C NMR spectroscopy,
high resolution mass spectrometry, single-crystal X-ray diffraction,
and EPR spectroscopy were exploited for characterization. Furthermore,
a photoinduced domino reaction mechanism is proposed according to
the experimental and theoretical studies. In addition, the effects
of employing push and pull electronic groups on the controllable photoinduced
domino reaction were investigated. This article not only offers a
new blue emitter and novel air-stable organic radical compound for
potential application in organic semiconductor applications, but also
provides a perspective for understanding the fundamentals of the reaction
mechanism on going from anthracene to semiquinone in such anthracene
systems.