Spontaneous disproportionation of NO2 (N2o4) by aromatic hydrocarbons. Formation of nitrosonium EDA complexes as chemical intermediates

Strong (orange/red) colourations resulting immediately upon the exposure of nitrogen dioxide and its equilibrium dimer (dinitrogen tetroxide) to various aromatic hydrocarbons (ArH) are shown to arise from the nitrosonium EDA or electron donor-acceptor complexes ArH, NO⁺NO ₃ ^? ]. The latter exhibit diagnostic charge-transfer absorptions and characteristic N-O stretching bands in the UV-vis and IR spectra, respectively, that relate directly to ArH/NO⁺ interactions extant in the EDA complexes previously derived from the authentic nitrosonium salt, NO⁺PF ₆ ^- . Time-resolved picosecond spectroscopy establishes the charge-transfer excited state of ArH, NO⁺NO ₃ ^? ] to be essentially identical to that from ArH, NO⁺BF ₄ ^? ]. Furthermore, the same temporal decay of the spectral transients (ArH^+?) from both systems indicates minimal ion-pairing effects of the counterions (NO ₃ ^? and BF ₄ ^? ) on the kinetics of back electron transfer.