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The key reactivity controlling parameters of meta-benzynes have been identified and demonstrated to have a major influence on their reactivity.

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In order to explore the effects of the electronic nature of charged phenyl radicals on their reactivity, reactions of the three distonic isomers of ndehydropyridinium cation (n = 2, 3 or 4) have been investigated in the gas phase by using Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. All three isomers react with cyclohexane, methanol, ethanol and 1-pentanol exclusively via hydrogen atom abstraction, and with allyl iodide mainly via iodine atom abstraction, with a reaction efficiency ordering: 2 > 3 > 4. The observed reactivity ordering correlates well with the calculated vertical electron affinities of the charged radicals (i.e., the higher the vertical electron affinity, the faster the reaction). Charged radicals 2 and 3 also react with tetrahydrofuran exclusively via hydrogen atom abstraction, but the reaction of 4 with tetrahydrofuran yields products arising from nonradical reactivity. The unusual reactivity of 4 is likely to result from the contribution of an ionized carbenetype resonance structure that facilitates nucleophilic addition to the most electrophilic carbon atom (C-4) in this charged radical. The influence of such a resonance structure on the reactivity of 2 is not obvious, and this may be due to stabilizing hydrogen-bonding interactions in the transition states for this molecule. Charged radicals 2 and 3 abstract a hydrogen atom from the substituent in both phenol and toluene, but 4 abstracts a hydrogen atom from the phenyl ring -a reaction that is unprecedented for phenyl radicals. Charged radical 4 reacts with tert-butyl isocyanide mainly by hydrogen cyanide (HCN) abstraction while CN abstraction is the principal reaction for 2 and 3. The different reactivity observed for 4 (compared to 2 and 3) is likely to result from different charge and spin distributions of the reaction intermediates for these charged radicals.

The 2,4,6-tridehydropyridine radical cation, an analogue of the elusive 1,2,3,5-tetradehydrobenzene, was generated in the gas phase and its reactivity examined. Surprisingly, the tetraradical was found not to undergo radical reactions. This behavior is rationalized by resonance structures hindering fast radical reactions. This makes the cation highly electrophilic, and it rapidly reacts with many nucleophiles by quenching the N-C ortho-benzyne moiety, thereby generating a relatively unreactive meta-benzyne analogue.