The Aryl Cation – the Trapping and Characterisation of a Hyper-Reactive Species

The article traces the development of the epr and optical spectroscopic characterisation and progressive theoretical understanding of the aryl cation, starting from the initial cryogenic epr study of 2,5-dialkoxyl-4-morpholinophenyl cation, which defined unambiguously its triplet state character, through simple MO, ab initio and DFT calculations on substituted aryl cations, to picosecond laser photolysis studies in fluorinated solvents, noting especially the early and vital contribution of Martyn Symons.