Irradiation of 4-chloroaniline or of its N, N-dimethyl derivative in polar solvents generates the corresponding triplet phenyl cations. These are trapped by alkenes yielding arylated products in medium to good yields. B3LYP calculations show that the triplet cation slides with negligible activation energy to a bonded adduct with ethylene, whereas it forms only a marginally stabilized CT complex with water (chosen as a representative σ nucleophile). ...
