For several compounds containing both a nitrene group and a free radical group an ESR high-spin quartet has been recorded (matrix, cryogenic temperatures). One of these has an amine oxide radical group incorporated, another system has a carbon radical group.
In this system one of the nitrogen unpaired electrons is delocalized in the aromatic ring making the compound a σ–σ–π triradical. A carbene nitrogen radical (imidyl radical) resonance structure makes a contribution to the total electronic picture.
In 2019, an authentic triplet nitrene was isolated by Betley and Lancaster, stabilized by coordination to a copper center in a bulky ligand.