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Theory predicts an open-shell doublet ground state for the 5-dehydro-1,3-quinodimethane triradical (see picture), with three low-spin coupled electrons in three singly occupied molecular orbitals. The bond dissociation enthalpy for formation of the triradical from meta-xylylene, measured by MS indicates an interaction of (1±4) kcal mol−1 between the unpaired electrons in the σ and π systems in the triradical.
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Slipchenko et al. (2004) studied this question.
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