Four-membered ring compounds photochemical reactions

By a photochemically induced elimination of CO, a chromium carbene complex with a free coordination site is generated. That species can coordinate to an alkyne, to give the alkyne-chromium carbonyl complex 4. The next step is likely to be a cycloaddition reaction leading to a four-membered ring compound 5. A subsequent electrocyclic ring opening and the insertion of CO leads to the vinylketene complex 6 ... 

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... 

Photochemical reactions provide a classical access to four-membered ring compounds that generate major interest in organic synthesis, notably as intermediates in multistep syntheses. The [2 + 2] photocycloaddition of a,(3-unsaturated carbonyl and carboxyl compounds with alkenes and [2 + 2] photocydoaddition of ketones with alkenes (the Paterno-Buchi reaction) are discussed in Chapters 6 and 7, respectively. Yet, aside from these transformations, a variety of further reactions provides a systematic access to four-membered rings that possess a wide structural variation. Four-membered ring compounds may also be created via less-systematic photochemical transformations, many of which can be carried out without additional chemical activation. As a consequence, such transformations are rendered not only very convenient but also extremely interesting within the context of green chemistry. ... 

Four-membered ring formation between unsaturated carbon bonds and carbonyl compounds is a photochemical reaction [25], This is an excited-state reaction in the delocalization band (Scheme 6). 

Oxetanes are the cycloadducts from a carbonyl compound and an olefin. This one step photochemical formation of a four membered ring heterocycle has been named the Paterno-Buchi reaction 489a> b). Oxetanes are important synthetic intermediates as they can fragment into the carbonyl-olefin pair by which they were not formed (a so termed carbonyl-olefin metathesis). Two examples of such oxetan cracking reactions are shown below in (4.76)490) and in (4.77)491) in this last example the oxetane was used as a precursor for the pheromone E-6-nonenol,... 

Four-membered rings can be synthesised by [2 + 2] cycloadditions. However, thermal [2 + 2] cycloadditions occur only with difficulty they are not concerted but involve diradicals. Photochemical [2 + 2] reactions are common and although some of these may occur by a stepwise mechanism many are concerted. An example of a [2 + 2] reaction is the photodimerisation of cyclopent-2-enone. This compound, as the neat liquid, or in a variety of solvents, on irradiation with light of wavelength greater than 300 nm (the n - n excited state is involved) is converted to a mixture of the head-to-head (48) and head-to-tail (49) dimers, both having the cis,anti,cis stereochemistry as shown. It is believed that the reaction proceeds by attack of an n - n triplet excited species on a ground state molecule of the unsaturated ketone (Section 2.17.5, p. 106). In the reaction described (Expt 7.24) the cyclopent-2-enone is irradiated in methanol and the head-to-tail dimer further reacts with the solvent to form the di-acetal which conveniently crystallises from the reaction medium as the irradiation proceeds the other dimer (the minor product under these conditions) remains in solution. The di-acetal is converted to the diketone by treatment with the two-phase dilute hydrochloric acid-dichloromethane system. 

Across C=0 Bonds The photochemical [2-1-2] cycloaddition reactions of allenes with aldehydes and ketones respectively, afford the four-membered ring cycloadducts, which usually add a second equivalent of the ketone to give dioxaspiro[3,3]heptanes. For example, from tetramethylallene and acetone, the [2-1-2] cycloadduct 225 (8 %) and the spiro compounds 226 (57 %) and 227 (27 %) are obtained... 

There seems to be no great difference in the free energy between acyclic triene and the cyclic diene. This is because of smaller strain in the six-membered ring as compared with the four-membered one. On the other hand in 6n electron system in electrocyclic process there is more efficient absorption in the near regions of u.v. spectrum. This is why under both thermal and photochemical conditions, the (1, 6) electrocyclic reactions are reversible. Side reactions are more frequent in reversible. Side reactions are more frequent in reversible transformations of trienes than in dienes. The dehydrogenation of cyclic dienes to aromatic compounds may also occur in the thermal process. On heating cyclohexadiene yields benzene and hydrogen. 

Another important class of cycloaddition reactions is the formation of oxetane rings between a photoexcited carbonyl compound and an unsaturated molecule. These reactions also occur probably through an exciplex although these exciplexes are non-fluorescent as they are formed from the triplet state of the ketone or aldehyde. The formation of the four-membered oxetane ring is an interesting example of a typical photochemical reaction... 

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