Amine photochemical arylation

Photochemical addition of ammonia and primary amines to aryl olefins (equation 42) can be effected by irradiation in the presence of an electron acceptor such as dicyanoben-zene (DCNB)103-106. The proposed mechanism for the sensitised addition to the stilbene system is shown in Scheme 7. Electron transfer quenching of DCNB by t-S (or vice versa) yields the t-S cation radical (t-S)+ Nucleophilic addition of ammonia or the primary amine to (t-S)+ followed by proton and electron transfer steps yields the adduct and regenerates the electron transfer sensitizer. The reaction is a variation of the electron-transfer sensitized addition of nucleophiles to terminal arylolefins107,108. 

The conversion of aryl amines to aryl fluorides via diazotisation and subsequent thermal decomposition of the derived tetrafluoroborates or hexafluorophosphates. The decomposition may also be induced photochemically. 

Topics which have formed the subjects of reviews this year include theoretical studies of the photochemistry of thiiranes, photoaddition of amines to aryl olefins and arenes, the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds, photoamination directed towards the synthesis of heterocycles, selective addition of organic dichalcogenides to carbon-carbon unsaturated bonds, photocyclisation mechanisms of c/5-stilbene analogues, synthetic utility of the photocyclisation of aryl-and heteroarylpropenoic acids, photochromic diarylethenes, spiropyrans, cy-clophanes, and polycondensed aromatics," photochromic organic media, photophysics and photochemistry of P-carbolines, and the photochemical synthesis of macrocycles.Chirality switching by light has also been described. ... 

Topics of relevance to the content of this chapter which have been reviewed during the year include photoactive [2]rotaxanes and [2]catenanes, photochemical synthesis of macrocycles, phototransformations of phthalimido amino acids, photoaddition reactions of amines with aryl alkenes and arenes, photoreactions between arenenitriles and benzylic donors, photostability of drugs, polycyclic heterocycles from aryl- and heteroaryl-2-propenoic acids, photoreactions of pyrroles, photoamination reactions in heterocyclic synthesis, switching of chirality by light, photochromic diarylethenes for molecular photoionics and solid state bimolecular photoreactions. 

Partial photochemical decomposition of racemic alkyl aryl sulphoxides in the presence of chiral amines as sensitizers gave non-decomposed sulphoxides in optically active form with optical purity of about 3%339. The report340 on the use of cholesteric liquid crystalline reaction media to change the enantiomeric composition of racemic sulphoxides at high temperatures could not be reproduced341. 

The dimerization of ketones to 1,2-diols can also be accomplished photochemi-cally indeed, this is one of the most common photochemical reactions. The substrate, which is usually a diaryl or aryl alkyl ketone (though a few aromatic aldehydes and dialkyl ketones have been dimerized), is irradiated with UV light in the presence of a hydrogen donor such as isopropyl alcohol, toluene, or an amine. In the case of benzophenone, irradiated in the presence of 2-propanol, the ketone molecule initially undergoes n — k excitation, and the singlet species thus formed crosses to the T, state with a very high efficiency. 

For the reactions described so far in this section, the ketone substrates have lowest excited states that are (n.ii ) in character aliphatic ketones may react by way of the singlet or the triplet state, and aryl ketones normally through the triplet because intersystem crossing is very efficient. The efficiency of photochemical hydrogen abstraction from compounds such as alcohols or ethers is very much lower if the ketone has a lowest (Ji,n triplet state, as does I - or 2-acetylnaphthalene (CmH-COMe). However, all aryl ketones, regardless of whether their lowest triplet state is fn,Jt l or (Jt.Ji ), react photochemically with amines to give photoreduction or photoaddition products. A different mechanism operates (4.38), that begins... 

The photochemistry of aryl azides is quite complex, suggesting that the nitrene 14 may not be the only reactive intermediate and that insertion reactions may not be the only route to form photoconjugates.Although aryl nitrenes are much less susceptible to rearrangements than acyl nitrenes, they may still occur and lead to the formation of reactive intermediates such as azepines, which may go on to react with nucleophiles.[911 141 Addition of nitrenes to double bonds will generate azirines, while dimerization will produce azobenzenesJ11 Aryl azides are stable to most of the procedures used in the course of peptide synthesis except for reduction reactions. Non-photochemical reduction of aryl azides to the primary amines by thiols has been reported by Staros et al.[15]... 

The photochemical dechlorination of 4-chlorobiphenyl in the presence of anthracene and triethylamine is supposed to proceed via two electron transfer steps, first from triethylamine to excited anthracene and then from the anthracene radical anion to the aryl halide410. This type of mechanism is also operative in the dechlorination of 4-chlorobiphenyl, 4,4 -dichlorobiphenyl, 1,3,5-trichlorobenzene, 1,2,3,5-tetrachloroben-zene and pentachlorobenzene photosensitized by visible dyes (protoporphyrin IX, acriflavin, rose bengal, zinc protoporphyrin, methylene green) in the presence of triethylamine411. The various steps of the mechanism are summarized in equations 112-115. A mechanistic alternative is that the excited photosensitizer transfers an electron directly to the aryl chloride and becomes regenerated by electron transfer from the amine. 

An electron-transfer mechanism is proposed to account for the photochemical cyclisation of the fluorinated aryl amines (36) and (37). Photochemical oxidative cyclisation has also been reported as an efficient path to some benzo[h]thienothienoquinolines. A study of the photochemical reactivity and degradation of diclofenac and meclofenamic acid has been published. The bis(diphenylamino)butane (38) is photochemically reactive and irradiation at 313 nm in an air-saturated solution brings about cyclisation which yields the biscarbazole (39). It is clear from the results obtained that the reaction is stepwise with initial cyclisation affording (40). The quantum yields for the cyclisation of (38) to (40) is 0.3 while that for (40) to (39) is 0.02. 

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