Stable Meisenheimer Complexes as Powerful Photoreductants Readily Obtained from Aza‐Hetero Aromatic Compounds

Excited states of radical anions derived from the photoreduction of stable organic molecules are suggested to serve as potent reductants. However, excited states of these species are too short‐lived to allow bimolecular quenching processes. Recently, the singlet excited state of Meisenheimer complexes, which possess a long‐lived excited state, was identified as the competent species for the reduction of challenging organic substrates (−2.63 V vs. SCE, saturated calomel electrode). To produce reasonably stable and simply accessible different Meisenheimer complexes, the addition of nBuLi to readily available aromatic heterocycles was investigated, and the photoreactivity of the generated species was studied. In this paper, we present the straightforward preparation of a family of powerful photoreductants (*Eox