The First Heterotriquinone and Dicyanoheterotriquinone Methide That Undergo a Five-Stage Amphoteric Redox Reaction

The dicyanomethylene group and not the quinone oxygen atoms is the site of the first one-electron reduction for the dicyanohetereotriquinone methide 1, although the dicyanomethylene group is substituted at a cyclopentadienyl-like five-membered ring! Compound 1 is amphoteric and undergoes a five-stage sequence of one-electron redox reactions.