Perrin Lab Produces First "Naked" Aryl Anion in Solution

Professor Perrin and graduate student, Gabriel J. Reyes-Rodriguez have discovered the first "naked" aryl anion in solution-a carbanion not linked to counterions or stabilized by hydrogen bonding. Small naked carbanions have been created and studied in the gas phase before, but never in solution; the discovery provides a previously unknown type of species in solution for testing the relation between molecular structure and reactivity.