New heterocyclic precursors for thermal generation of reactive, electron-rich 1,2-diaza-1,3-butadienes

[reaction--see text] [corrected] The preparation and thermolysis of new stable heterocyclic precursors of 1,2-diaza-1,3-butadienes is described. The resulting reactive diazadienes are trapped in situ with N-phenylmaleimide [corrected]. The effect of precursor structure on the temperature at which the diazadienes are generated is discussed.