Excited State carbon acid

The proton transfer may occur rapidly after the excitation and form a tautomer, when either acidic or basic moieties of the same molecule become stronger acids or bases in the excited state. The majority of reactions of this type involve the proton transfer from an oxygen donor to an oxygen or nitrogen acceptor, although a few other cases are known, where a nitrogen atom can function as a donor and a carbon atom as the acceptor. Usually an intramolecular hydrogen bond between the two moieties of a molecule facilitates the proton transfer. 

Electronically excited states of organic molecules, acid-base properties of, 12,131 Energetic tritium and carbon atoms, reactions of, with organic compounds, 2, 201 Enolisation of simple carbonyl compounds and related reactions, 18,1 Entropies of activation and mechanisms of reactions in solution, 1,1 Enzymatic catalysis, physical organic model systems and the problem of, 11, 1 Enzyme action, catalysis of micelles, membranes and other aqueous aggregates as models of, 17. 435... 

Electronically excited states of organic molecules, acid-base properties of, 12, 131 Energetic tritium and carbon atoms, reactions of, with organic compounds, 2, 201... 

Gamma radiolysis of simple carboxylic acids and N-acetyl amino acids results in loss of the carboxyl group with formation of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. In the carboxylic acids, the ratio of C0/C02 produced is approximately 0.1, while in the N-acetyl amino acids the ratio is much smaller. In the poly carboxylic acids and poly amino acids, radiolysis also results in the loss of the carboxyl group, but here the ratio of C0/C02 is greater than 0.1. Incorporation of aromatic groups in the poly amino acids provides some protection for the carboxyl group. The degradation of the poly acids is believed to involve radical and excited state pathways. 

For each of the poly carboxylic acids investigated, the sum of the yields of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide is much larger than the yield of radical products. This observation differs from that noted for the model compounds, where the two were of similar magnitude. This suggests that excited state processes may play a more significant role in the degradation of the poly acids than they do in the small molecule, model compounds. 

In the poly carboxylic acids, carbon dioxide is the major product of radiolysis, but the carbon monoxide yields are greater than they are for the aliphatic carboxylic acids. However, the radical yields are not greater than expected on the basis of the model compounds, which suggests that excited states play an important role in the degradation of these poly acids. 

It is assumed that an excited state charge transfer complex is formed between the nitroaromatic in its first triplet state and the respective substrate. Internal proton transfer is immediately followed by hberation of carbon dioxide. Finally hydrolysis of the hemiacetal Ar —X—CH2OH (X = NH or S) leads to 2-chloro-aniline or thiophenol, respectively. In the decarboxylation of a-phenylthio-acetic acid, some methyl-phenylsulfide is also formed. (7t,7r )-nitroaromatics are more reactive than nitro compounds with lowest (n,7t )-triplets iso). 

Vacuum UV irradiation of aqueous solutions containing formate is one of the methods to generate CO2 . Under such conditions, the carbon dioxide anion-radical is formed in the excited state. The excited anion-radical transfers an unpaired electron to nitrobenzene, benzoic acid, or benzal-dehyde (Rosso et al. 2000). 

They proposed a mechanism as shown in Scheme 10, because they found close contact between the oxygen atom of the C=0 group and the carbon atom of the C=S group in a range of 2.77-2.86 A. These contacts are well below the sum of the van der Waals radii for oxygen and carbon (3.22 A). Thus, in the crystalline state, the oxygen atom is ideally positioned for excited-state nucleophilic attack on the C=S double bond, and this process may be the first step of the mechanism by which thiobenzanilides are formed in this medium. This would lead reversibly to the 1,3-oxazetidinium ion 18, which could react with water present in the medium and then break down, via species 19, to the enol of thiobenzanilide 16 and 3-phenylpropanoic acid 17. 

Nitro-compounds fRNOj) are isomeric with nitrites, but their electronic structure, excited states and photochemistry are very different. There is no very low-lying (n.jt ) state, and nitroalkanes show n — 3i absorption with a maximum around 275 nm ( —201 mol - cm In cyclohexane solution, nitromethane (CH1NOi) is photoreduced to nitrosomethane(CH,NO, but nitroethane under the same conditions gives rise to a nitroso-dimer derived from the solvent CS.47). The latter process is probably initiated by cleavage of the carbon-nitrogen bond in the nitroalkane. In basic solution (when the nitroalkane is converted to a nitronate anion) irradiation can lead to efficient formation of a hydroxamic acid (S.48), and this reaction most likely proceeds through formation of an intermediate three-mem bered cyclic species. 

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