Binding the Power of Cycloaddition and Cross-Coupling in a Single Mechanism: An Unexpected Bending Journey to Radical Chemistry of Butadiynyl with Conjugated Dienes

What if an experiment could combine the power of cycloaddition and cross-coupling with the in situ formation of an aromatic molecule in a single collision? Crossed molecular beam experiments augmented with electronic structure and statistical calculations provided compelling evidence on a novel radical route involving 1,3-butadiynyl (HCCCC; X²∑⁺) radicals synthesizing (substituted) arylacetylenes in the gas phase upon reactions with 1,3-butadiene (CH₂CHCHCH₂; X¹A_g) and 2-methyl-1,3-butadiene (isoprene; CH₂C(CH₃)CHCH₂; X¹A’). This elegant mechanism de facto merges two previously disconnected concepts of cross-coupling and cycloaddition-aromatization in a single collision event via the formation of two new C(sp²)-C(sp²) bonds and bending the 180° moiety of the linear 1,3-butadiynyl radical out of the ordinary by 60° to 120°. In addition to its importance to fundamental organic chemistry, this unconventional mechanism links two previously separated routes of gas-phase molecular mass growth processes of polyacetylenes and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), respectively, in low-temperature environments such as in cold molecular clouds like the Taurus Molecular Cloud (TMC-1) and in hydrocarbon-rich atmospheres of planets and their moons such as Titan, which revises the established understanding of low-temperature molecular mass growth processes in the Universe.