Methyl radicals laser flash photolysis

Using time-resolved laser flash photolysis techniques, transient carbocations in the photolysis of benzyl halides have been widely observed. A variety of phenylmethyl halides157-160, substituted diphenylmethyl halides154,155,161-163 and substituted triphenyl-methyl halides162,164 has been successfully used as precursor under various reaction conditions. The photogeneration of the transient cations is often accompanied by that of the corresponding transient radicals. 

Flash photolysis of misonidazole, metronidazole, and nitrobenzothiazoles has been carried out in [1369-1371], Laser flash-photolysis (355 nm) allows to determine relatively stable anion-radicals of misonidazole and metronidazole in aqueous solutions [1370], Solvated electrons have been formed at harder irradiation, the result of which interaction with nitroimidazole molecules is generation of their radical anions [1372], The authors [1372] have also found that fluorescence intensity of metronidazole is about 20 times more than that of misonidazole in same conditions. Photochromic properties of benzothiazole derivatives containing nitro and methyl groups in the ortho positions with respect to each other were studied by flash photolysis [1371], The application of the thermodynamic approach to predict the kinetic stability of formed nitronic acids is limited owing to specific intramolecular interactions. The lifetime of photoinduced nitronic acid anions tends to increase with rise in the chemical shift of the methyl protons. The rate constants photoinduced nitronic acids and their anions increase as the CH3C-CN02 bond becomes longer [1371],... 

The 3-exo cychsation of ester-substituted 3-butenyl radicals is important in the rearrangement of 2-methyleneglutamate to 3-methyl itaconate catalysed by a-methyleneglutamate mutase. Newcomb and co-workers have applied laser flash photolysis to cleverly designed precursors to show that an ester group at the 1-position of 3-buten-l-yl accelerates the 3-exo cychsation by a factor of about 3, but that the same substituent at the 3-position slows the process by a factor of about 50 [45]. 

Two-laser two-photon results revealed photoisomerization of the cation E,E-11 to its stereoisomer Z,E-11, which undergoes thermal reversion with a lifetime of 3.5 ps at room temperature. Absolute rate constants for reaction of styrene, 4-methylstyrene, 4-methoxystyrene and /i-methyl-4-methoxystyrene radical cation with a series of alkanes, dienes and enol ethers are measured by Laser flash photolysis [208]. The addition reactions are sensitive to steric and electronic effects on both the radical cation and the alkene or diene. Reactivity of radical cations follows the general trend of 4-H > 4-CH3 > 4-CH3O > 4-CH30-jff-CH3, while the effect of alkyl substitution on the relative reactivity of alkenes toward styrene radical cations may be summarized as 1,2-dialkyl < 2-alkyl < trialkyl < 2,2-dialkyl < tetraalkyl. 

In many synthetically useful radical chain reactions, hydrogen donors are used to trap adduct radicals. Absolute rate constants for the reaction of the resulting hydrogen donor radicals with alkenes have been measured by laser flash photolysis techniques and time-resolved optical absorption spectroscopy for detection of reactant and adduct radicals Addition rates to acrylonitrile and 1,3-pentadienes differ by no more than one order of magnitude, the difference being most sizable for the most nucleophilic radical (Table 8). The reaction is much slower, however, if substituents are present at the terminal diene carbon atoms. This is a general phenomenon known from addition reactions to alkenes, with rate reductions of ca lOO observed at ambient temperature for the introduction of methyl groups at the attacked alkene carbon atom . This steric retardation of the addition process either completely inhibits the chain reaction or leads to the formation of rmwanted products. 

Poly(alkyl and aromatic ethers) - Using laser flash photolysis poly(2,6-dimethyl-l,4-phenylene oxide) undergoes scission at the phenolic link to give phenoxy radicals . Poly(vinyl methyl ether) has been shown to undergo a complex series of photoprocesses as shown in Scheme 2. ... 

A novel monomer 2-acryloylthioxanthone has been prepared and found to undergo radical copolymerisation with a number of other monomers . Of particular interest is a conventional and laser flash photolysis study on the copolymers with methyl methacrylate where triplet formation was found to be significantly quenched compared with that of the monomer itself. Here intramolecular self quenching was shown to be important in the former case. 

A detailed laser flash photolysis study of the reactions of the 4-methoxystyrene radical cation and its P-methyl and p.p-di-methyl analogs with amines and pyridines in acetonitrile and aqueous acetonitrile has been carried out. " Representative kinetic data are summarized in Table 6 and cover approximately 4 orders of magnitude in time scale. A combination of transient spectra, product studies, and redox potentials has been used to establish which of the three possible reactions contributes to the measured rate constant for any given radical cation/amine pair. For example, transient spectra obtained after quenching of the radical cations with either DABCO or aniline clearly show the formation of the amine radical cation, consistent with the fact that both of these amines have substantially lower oxidation potentials than any of the three styrenes. Reaction with primary amines occurs by addition, as evidenced by the formation of a transient in the 300-nm region that is assigned to the substituted benzyl radical. These results are consistent with the high oxi-... 

In polar solvents, a-halomethyl aromatics give rise to photochemical reactions that can be explained by both radical and ionic mechanisms. Equation 12.77 shows the results for irradiation of 1-chloromethylnaphtha-lene (119) in methanol. The most direct pathway for formation of the methyl ether 120 is heterolytic dissociation of the C-Cl bond to give a chloride ion and a 1-naphthylmethyl carbocation, the latter then undergoing nucleophilic addition by the solvent. Indeed, naphthylphenylmethyl carbocations were detected spectroscopically following laser flash photolysis of (naphthylphenylmethyl)triphenylphosphonium chlorides. On the other hand, products 121, 122, and 123 appear to be formed via the 1-naphthylmethyl radical. Therefore, an alternative source of the carbocation leading to 120 could be electron transfer from the 1-naphthylmethyl radical instead of direct photochemical heterolysis of 119.215-216 jaj-g g p. 

A combination of benzophenone and 1,3-dioxane is a convenient hydrogen abstraction-type photoinitiator system for the free radical photopolymerization of methyl methacrylate, styrene and other monomers. As an advantage, this system does not require an additional hydrogen donor as other conventional initiators. In a similar way, mixtures of thioxanthone derivatives and fluorenes can be used as visible light absorbing oil- and water-soluble photoinitiators for free radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate, ethyl 2-(2-phosphonoethoxymethyl)acrylate and trimethylolpropane triacrylate. Photopolymerization and laser flash photolysis studies reveal that initiation occurs by intra- and intermolecular hydrogen abstraction by the thioxanthone-like triplet excited state. 

Radical cyclization continues to be one of the most popular radical reaction classes used in synthesis. By far the majority of published cyclization reactions are 5-exo in nature and this year is no exception. The rates of 5-exo cyclization reactions continue to be measured. For example, the rate constants for the 5-exo cyclizations of the 6,6-diphenylhex-5-enyl, 1-methyl-6,6-diphenylhex-5-enyl and the 1,1-dimethyl-6,6-diphenylhex-5-enyl radicals have been measured by laser flash photolysis studies and Arrhenius parameters determined. The relative rate constants for cyclization, and the reaction with PhSeH, were determined at 20 °C. At 20 °C the rates of the three primary, secondary and tertiary radicals with PhSeH were approximately (1.2 0.1) X 10 lmol s The rate constants for alkyl radicals calibrated by competition reactions with PhSeH and PhSH were found to be 30-40% smaller than previously reported and thus it was concluded that derived rate constants for some fast radical reactions may have to be adjusted accordingly. The rate constants for the 5-exo cyclization of secondary radicals on to hydrazones and oxime ethers have been determined. The fastest rate constants were observed for the IV-benzoylhydrazone acceptor. The rate constants were found to be approximately 800 times faster than for the corresponding 5-exo cyclization on to alkenes." Other work has measured the rate constants of cyclization of a range of fluorinated hex-5-enyl, hept-6-enyl, oct-7-enyl and non-8-enyl radicals. Not only were the rate constants measured but the regioselectivity of cyclization was compared with that for the aU-carbon homologues." The 6-exo cyclization of 1,1,2,2-tetrafluoro- and l,l,2,2,3,3,4,4-octafluorohept-6-enyl radicals were found to be approximately 10 times faster than those for the parent... 

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