Addition of stable nitroxide radical to stable divalent compounds of heavier group 14 elements

The reactions of stable cyclic dialkylgermylene 2 and dialkylstannylene 3 with 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyl-1-oxy (TEMPO) radical (2 equiv) gave the corresponding 1:2 adducts 4 and 5, respectively, which were characterized by NMR, MS, and X-ray analyses. The kinetics of the stepwise addition of two TEMPO molecules to germylene 2 revealed that the initial addition of TEMPO to 2 was 10¹⁰ times slower than the second TEMPO addition to the resulting germyl radical. The origin of the rate difference was discussed on the basis of the qualitative perturbation theory. In contrast to the reactions of 2 and 3, the reaction of dialkylsilylene 1 with TEMPO gave an interesting 1,3-dioxadisiletane derivative.