Cinnamic acid derivatives, photodimerization

Feldman and Campbell, on the other hand, used hydrogen-bonding interactions to enforce a particular stereo- and regiochemical outcome of the sohd-state photocycloaddition of a naphthoic acid-derived cinnamic acid [45]. In a conceptually similar approach, Scheffer demonstrated that diamines can form double salts with a variety of trans-cinnamic acid derivatives. The locking in place of the double bonds steers the sohd-state [2+2] photodimerization [46]. 

Photodimerization behavior of 4-formyl-, 3,4-dichloro-, and several other cinnamic acid derivatives is greatly influenced by other molecules outside of the crystal (9,10). For example, 4-formylcinnamic acid 1 crystallizes in two modifications, photoreactive and photostable forms. The photoreactive crystals of 1 (mp 249 °C), on photoirradiation at room temperature in the presence of even a trace of moisture, dimerize to crystalline dimer 2 containing one molecule of water. The continuous change of the x-ray diffraction pattern during the photodimerization indicates a typical crystal-to-crystal transformation process. On the other hand, the same crystal 1 photodimerizes into amorphous dimer 2 in the absence of water. The same cyclobutane derivative is produced in very high yield in both reactions. However, highly crystalline dimer 2 is obtained only by the photodimerization of 1 in the presence of water and is not regenerated by any attempted recrystallization procedures from various aqueous solutions of 2. 

Keywords cinnamic acid derivative, [2+2]photodimerization, a-truxillic acid, cyclobutane... 

Photocyclization is a particularly valuable route to the formation of cyclic compounds. There is a wide variety of photocyclization reactions reported in the literature of organic photochemistry, but relatively few of these have been carried out in solid polymers. The earliest reports concern the photodimerization of cinnamic acid derivatives, leading to crosslinking in solid polymers. These polymers have important applications as commercial photoresists. The chemistry has been reviewed by Delzenne (46) and Williams (47). 

Photodimerization of a,p-unsaturated ketones, esters, and lactones bearing aryl groups has been investigated to give cyclobutane derivatives. Irradiation of benzoxepinone (267) afforded quantitatively diaster-eoisomeric head-to-head dimers (268) and (269). The minor dimer (268) containing trans-ving fusion underwent spontaneous isomerization to the major cis-transoid-cis diastereoisomer (269). ° Irradiation of 2, 4 -dihydroxychalcone (270) and its related compounds mainly afforded two head-to-tail cyclobutanes (271, 272), which had never been found in nature previously (Scheme 59). ° Photocyclodimerization of cinnamic acid derivatives (275) as natural products was also reported. ... 

As mentioned above, an example where lattice control over the course of an organic solid state reaction is explicit is provided by the solid state photodimerization of trans-cinnamic acid and many of its derivatives.When irradiated in the melt or in solution, cinnamic acid derivatives do not dimerize — the presumed singlet photoexcited state being too short-lived for reaction in such mobile phases. The only consequence of irradiation is trans cis isomerization. Irradiation of crystalline solids, however, was found to result in one of three distinct events — and that which occurs found to depend upon the solvent of crystallization— see Scheme 6.1. The contribution of Schmidt, Cohen, and co-workers at the Weizmarm Institute in Israel was first to appreciate the importance of polymorphism and then to establish a direct correlation between the molecular packing within a particular polymorphic phase and the nature of the photodimer which results. ... 

Nakanishi, E, Nakanishi, H., Tsuchiya, M., and Hasegawa, M., Water participation in the crystal-line-state photodimerization of cinnamic acid derivatives. A new type of organic photoreaction, Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn., 49, 3096,1976. 

The photochemical behavior of cinnamic acid derivatives 32a-g (Scheme 14) has been investigated by employing y-CD or CB [8] as photodimerization templates [76,81]. Solid-state complexes of 32a-g with y-CD cannot be prepared by the... 

Intermolecular photocycloadditions of alkenes can be carried out by photosensitization with mercury or directly with short-wavelength light.179 Relatively little preparative use has been made of this reaction for simple alkenes. Dienes can be photosensitized using benzophenone, butane-2,3-dione, and acetophenone.180 The photodimerization of derivatives of cinnamic acid was among the earliest photochemical reactions to be studied.181 Good yields of dimers are obtained when irradiation is carried out in the crystalline state. In solution, cis-trans isomerization is the dominant reaction. 

Many derivatives of quinones, cinnamic acids, and mucconic acids photodimerize in solid phases to give results 16> that in many cases are not in agreement with the general PMO rule of head-to-head reaction. However, it is clear that those reactions are controlled by topochemical effects, i.e. the geometry and proximity of the reactants in the solid phase. 135> Consequently, PMO theory will not be useful for calculating reactions of that type. 

Photodimerization of cinnamic acids and its derivatives generally proceeds with high efficiency in the crystal (176), but very inefficiently in fluid phases (177). This low efficiency in the latter phases is apparently due to the rapid deactivation of excited monomers in such phases. However, in systems in which pairs of molecules are constrained so that potentially reactive double bonds are close to one another, the reaction may proceed in reasonable yield even in fluid and disordered states. The major practical application has been for production of photoresists, that is, insoluble photoformed polymers used for image-transfer systems (printed circuits, lithography, etc.) (178). Another application, of more interest here, is the use that has been made of mono- and dicinnamates for asymmetric synthesis (179), in studies of molecular association (180), and in the mapping of the geometry of complex molecules in fluid phases (181). In all of these it is tacitly assumed that there is quasi-topochemical control in other words, that the stereochemistry of the cyclobutane dimer is related to the prereaction geometry of the monomers in the same way as for the solid-state processes. 

A great number of olefinic compounds are known to photodimerize in the crystalline state (1,2). Formation of a-truxillic and / -truxinic acids from two types of cinnamic acid crystals was interpreted by Bernstein and Quimby in 1943 to be a crystal lattice controlled reaction (5). In 1964 their hypothesis on cinnamic acid crystals was visualized by Schmidt and co-workers, who correlated the crystal structure of several olefin derivatives with photoreactivity and configuration of the products (4). In these olefinic crystals the potentially reactive double bonds are oriented in parallel to each other and are separated by approximately 4 A, favorable for [2+2] cycloaddition with minimal atomic and molecular motion. In general, the environment of olefinic double bonds in these crystals conforms to one of three principal types (a) the -type crystal, in which the double bonds of neighboring molecules make contact at a distance of -3.7 A across a center of symmetry to give a centrosymmetric dimer (1-dimer) (b) the / -type crystal, characterized by a lattice having one axial length of... 

The L-B films offer some advantages over aqueous-hydrocarbon interfaces of micelles and the related assemblies discussed above in terms of the magnitude of their orienting ability and the ease of interpretation of selectivity in photoreactions conducted in them. Molecules in the films have very little freedom of motion (stiff reaction cavities), their interfaces are very well defined, and therefore the alignment of reactant molecules can be readily expressed in the products. Photodimerization of stilbazole derivatives 62, N-octadecyl-l-(4-pyridyl)-4-(phenyl)-l,3-butadiene, (63), surfactant styrene derivatives 64 and 65, and cinnamic acids have been carried out in L-B films [18, 196-200], In all cases, single isomeric head-head dimers are obtained. Geometric isomerization of olefins has not been observed in competition with photodimerization. Independent of the location of the chromophore (i.e.,... 

The photodimerization of cinnamic acid and similar molecules is observed in crystals, but reactions of the same type occur in some polymers as well. Polymers such as polystyrene are made of long, saturated hydrocarbon chains with pendant groups in close contact dangling from the chain these chromophores can then interact in bimolecular photoaddition reactions. Polyvinyl car bazole and its derivatives are important examples of polymers which lead to such bimolecular interactions (e.g. exciplex formation). 

It is well established, in a qualitative sense, that chemical reactions occurring in crystals are subject to restrictive forces, not found in solution, which limit the allowable range of atomic and molecular motions along the reaction coordinate. This often leads to differences, either in the product structures or the product ratios, in going from solution to the solid state. This was first demonstrated in a systematic way by Cohen and Schmidt in 1964 in their studies on the solid state photodimerization of cinnamic acid and its derivatives (1 ). This work led to the formulation of the famous topochemical principle which states, in... 

In a systematic study of the 2ir + 2tt photodimerization of cinnamic acids it was shown that reactions in crystals occur with molecularity, selectivity, and efficiencies that are quite different from those observed in solution. Cinnamic acids and their derivatives were shown to crystallize in three distinct packing arrangements known as a-, (3-, and 7-forms. The packing arrangement of a given crystal form determines whether or not a 2tt + 2tt photodimerization may occur in the solid state and which of the possible products will form (Scheme 1). Al-... 

The photosensitivity of poly(vinyl cinnamate) derives from the reactivity of the einnamoyl group. Cinnamic acid is a naffirally occurring compound (found in oil of cinnamon, from which it derives its name) and is readily synthesized. Its photosensitivity has long been known, though little use was made of this property until Mink and co-workers, while reviewing the literature in search of a potential cross-linking reaction, found it to be the only solid state photodimerization that was known at the... 

The photochemical (2 + 2)-dimerization between raw -cinnamates contained within a photocrosslinkable dendrimer has been reported. The cycloaddition is accompanied by trans-cis isomerism. The (3-form of raw -2,4-dichlorocinnamic acid dimerizes on irradiation to give the (3-truxinic acid derivative in a first-order kinetic process. Others have studied the influence of substituents on the aryl ring of cinnamic acid, with a view to control crystal engineering. Ito et alJ have reported the photodimerization in the solid state of cinnamic acids (1) as their... 

The first systematic study concerning the relationship between the chemical reactivity of an organic solid and its crystal structure is generally associated with the work of Schmidt and his co-workers on the photodimerization of cinnamic acid and its derivatives. The main conclusions were summarized by Schmidt in 1971 and phrases such as topochemistry and crystal engineering were set to enter the lexicon of the organic solid state chemist. ... 

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