Anisole photocycloaddition reactions

This reaction pathway is usually favoured when an aromatic moiety and an alkene bear electron-withdrawing and electron-donating substituents, respectively (or vice versa). This addition involves a charge transfer and the course of the reaction is sensitive to the solvent polarity. Such a mechanism may resemble that of [2 + 2] photocycloaddition of alkenes to aji-unsaturated carbonyl compounds (Section 6.3.2). Scheme 6.81 shows examples of two intermolecular processes and one intramolecular [2 + 2] photocycloaddition reaction (a) crotononitrile (196) is added to anisole (197) to yield several stereoisomers of 198 in 38% chemical yield and with high regioselectivity, which is linked to bond polarization in the exciplex 818 (b) hexafluorobenzene (199) reacts with 1-ethynylbenzene (200) to form the bicyclo[4.2.0]octa-2,4,7-triene 201 in 86% yield 819 and (c) irradiation of 202 in methanol leads to the single photoproduct 203. 820... 

Ohashi et al. [128] found that the yields of ortho photoaddition of acrylonitrile and methacrylonitrile to benzene and that of acrylonitrile to toluene are considerable increased when zinc(II) chloride is present in the solution. This was ascribed to increased electron affinity of (meth)acrylonitrile by complex formation with ZnCl2 and it confirmed the occurrence of charge transfer during ortho photocycloaddition. This was further explored by investigating solvent effects on ortho additions of acceptor olefins and donor arenes [136,139], Irradiation of anisole and acrylonitrile in acetonitrile at 254 nm yielded a mixture of stereoisomers of l-methoxy-8-cyanobicyclo[4.2.0]octa-2,4-diene as a major product. A similar reaction occurred in ethyl acetate. However, irradiation of a mixture of anisole and acrylonitrile in methanol under similar conditions gave the substitution products 4-methoxy-a-methylbenzeneacetonitrile (49%) and 2-methoxy-a-methylbenzeneacetonitrile (10%) solely (Scheme 43). 

A variety of four-membered ring compounds can be obtained with photochemical reactions of aromatic compounds, mainly with the [2 + 2] (ortho) photocycloaddition of alkenes. In the case of aromatic compounds of the benzene type, this reaction is often in competition with the [3 + 2] (meta) cycloaddition, and less frequently with the [4 + 2] (para) cycloaddition (Scheme 5.7) [38-40]. When the aromatic reaction partner is electronically excited, both reactions can occur at the 7t7t singlet state, but only the [2 + 2] addition can also proceed at the %% triplet state. Such competition was also discussed in the context of redox potentials of the reaction partners [17]. Most frequently, it is the electron-active substituents on the aromatic partner and the alkene which direct the reactivity. The [2 + 2] photocycloaddition is strongly favored when electron-withdrawing substituents are present in the substrates. In such a reaction, crotononitrile 34 was added to anisole 33 (Scheme 5.8, reaction 15) [41 ], and only one regioisomer (35) was obtained in good yield. In this transformation, the... 

The meta photocycloaddition is frequently observed in cases of alkyl or electron-donor substituted benzene derivatives. Two exo/endo isomeres 2a,b are obtained in high yields in the reaction of anisole 1 with cyclopentene (Sch. 2) [18]. The reaction was also efficiently carried out in an intramolecular way. Two efficient reactions of this type are depicted in Sch. 2. The azatriquinane 3 [19] and the silane derivative 4 [20] were obtained in high yields. The formation of different regioisomers can be controlled by the heteroatoms in the side chain. The longer C-Si bonds particularly favor the formation of compound 4. 

The [3 + 2] photocycloaddition (Scheme 6.79) usually involves the ground-state alkene and the Si excited state of an electron-donor substituted benzene derivative, often via an exciplex intermediate.807,809 811,816 The discrimination between the ortho- and metacycloaddition pathways is dependent on the electron donor acceptor properties of the reaction partners and the position and character of the reactants substituents.807 The reaction typically produces many regio- and stereoisomers however, a suitable structure modification can reduce their number. Intermolecular and intramolecular versions of the reaction are presented in Scheme 6.88 (a) photolysis of the mixture of anisole and 1,3-dioxole (226) leads to the formation of two stereoisomers, exo- and endo-221, in mediocre ( 50%) chemical yields 830 (b) four different isomers are obtained in the intramolecular photocycloaddition of an anisole derivative 228. 831... 

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