Experimental and computational studies on the formation of aryl azides from the corresponding diazonium salts support a stepwise mechanism via acyclic zwitterionic intermediates. The low energy barriers associated with both transition structures are compatible with very fast and efficient processes, thus making this method suitable for the chemical synthesis of radiolabelled aryl azides.
Funding Agencies|RADIOMI project (EU FP7-PEOPLE-ITN-RADIOMI); Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) of Spain; FEDER [CTQ2013-45415-P]; University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) [UFI11/22 QOSYC]; Basque Government (GV/EJ) [IT-324-07]