Effect of Substituents on the Stability of Sulfur-Centered Radicals

High-level ab initio calculations have been used to calculate the standard and inherent radical stabilities (RSEs) of a test set of 41 sulfur-centered radicals, chosen for their relevance in fields as diverse as combustion, atmospheric chemistry, polymer chemistry, and biochemistry. Radical stability was shown to be profoundly affected by substituents, varying over a 30 kcal mol^-1 range for the test set studied. Like carbon-centered radicals, substituent effects on sulfur-centered radical stabilities result from the competition between the stabilizing effect of electron delocalization by lone pair donation and π-acceptance, and the destabilizing effect of σ withdrawal. However, in contrast to carbon-centered radicals, the heavier thiyl radicals are better able to undergo resonance and lone-pair donor interactions with heavier substituents. In particular, sulfur-containing lone pair donor and π-acceptor substituents have the greatest stabilizing effect, whereas σ-withdrawing substituents such as carbonyls and pyridines are the least stabilizing. The stabilities predicted using the standard definition and Zavitsas's inherent RSE_Z scheme are shown to be in surprisingly good agreement with one another for most species tested. The RSE_Z values have also been shown to be capable of making chemically accurate estimates of bond energies by comparing our calculated values with 34 currently available experimental ones.