Flash Photolysis Studies of Carbenes

In the late 1960s, Moritani and coworkers [15] reported studies of diazo compound 6 by flash photolysis methods. They were able to detect triplet carbene 7 

Observing Invisible Carbenes By Trapping Them with Pyridine 

The first absolute rate constant of a carbene reaction in solution was reported by Closs and Rabinow in 1976. [16] Upon photolysis of diphenyldiazomethane 1 in benzene with a conventional flash lamp, a transient spectrum with X 300 nm was detected. This absorption was assigned to triplet diphenylcarbene 3 because of the correspondence of this spectrum with that previously obtained for this carbene in a low temperature matrix. Upon flash photolysis of diphenyldiazomethane in cyclohexane the transient spectrum of the known spectrum of benzhydryl radical 9 334 nm) was produced. Carbene abstraction 

In benzene (which is inert towards 3) Closs and Rabinow measured the absolute rate constant of reaction of triplet carbene with itself, with dienes and with methanol. 

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EARLY LASER FLASH PHOTOLYSIS STUDIES OF CARBENES... 

Griller, D., Nazran, A.S., and Scaiano, J. C., Flash Photolysis Studies of Carbenes and Their Impact on the Skell-Woodworth Rules, Tetrahedron, 41,1525, 1985. 

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