Cyclic ketones, decarbonylation irradiation

Irradiation of cyclic ketones having perfluoroalkyl groups causes cleavage of a ring to yield acyclic products [I74 (equation 44) Similarly, perfluonnated ketones undergo decarbonylation when irradiated [775]. Gas-phase photolysis of perfluorodiazoketones, in the presence of a trapping agent, yields fluorinated furan as a major product [176] (equation 45)... 

Cyclic ketones undergo decarbonylation on irradiation in the vapour phase and in solution, provided they form stabilised radicals ... 

The Norrish type I reaction of acyclic and cyclic ketones in solution typically results in recombination, decarbonylation and disproportionation (hydrogen abstraction) products.903 For example, irradiation of di-tert-butyl ketone (265) in hexane solution provides nearly exclusively decarbonylation products from both the singlet and triplet states (>90% chemical yield), whereas the carbonyl group-containing products are produced only in traces (Scheme 6.111).922 923... 

Analogous decarbonylations have been observed for ketones under ultraviolet irradiation at elevated temperatures. From a preparative point of view the behavior of diphenyl-substituted and a,a-divinyl-substituted ketones is interesting, as they are decarbonylated when their benzene solutions are subjected to ultraviolet irradiation.69 This favorable effect of phenyl sub-stitutents on decarbonylation has been noted also for cyclic ketones for example, under suitable conditions l-phenyl-2-indanone eliminates carbon monoxide and yields 90% of 5,6,ll,12-tetrahydro-5,6-diphenyldibenzo[a,e]-cyclooctene as a mixture of cis- and trans-forms,10 whereas 2-indanone itself is hardly decarbonylated at all in benzene solution. That in other cases decarbonylation is usually more profitable in the gas than in the liquid phase is shown by studies of the photolysis of tetramethyl-l,3-cyclobutanedione which in the gas phase gives 2 equivalents of carbon monoxide and a quantitative yield of 2,3-dimethyl-2-butene.71... 

Irradiation of 2-[N-(pentafluorophenyI)amino]-3-phenylcyclopropenone promotes decarbonylation to give N-(pentafluorophenyl)phenylethynamine and 2-phenyl-3-[N-(pentafluorophenyl)amino]acrylic acid by a process for which there is no known precedent,and the photoextrusion of carbon monoxide from l,3-bis(ethylenedioxy)indan-2-one has been used as the first step in a new synthesis of 1,2-dioxobenzocyclobutene. This represents an unusual example of the decarbonylation of a five-membered cyclic ketone in the preparation of a highly strained and functionalised cyclobutane derivative. The photolysis of a-naphthaleneacetic acid in aqueous solution proceeds by decarboxylation and oxidation of the aromatic ring, and has been carried out at a variety of different wavelengths. The primary step occurs by pseudo-first order kinetics and the optimum photolysis rate has been observed using Ti02 as photocatalyst. Within the cavity of P-cyclodextrin, naproxene (129) has been photodecarboxylated to... 

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