Photo-Fries rearrangement products, formation

Chain cleavage with subsequent formation of phenolic products, rather than the photo-Fries rearrangement to form salicylates and dihydroxybenxophenones, has been identified as the major initial degradation pathway of PC exposed to natural weathering conditions. 

Ortho- and para-rearrangement and phenol formation on uv-irradiation of aryl esters are accompanied in several cases by decarboxylation,37,60,62,64,80,81 represented for 3,5-di-t-butylphenyl benzoate by the equation 118 -> 119-122. It was shown that this reaction cannot be sensitized,64 but the dramatic differences in product distribution could be observed by changing of the solvent.60,84 The results in Table VI indicate that in polar solvents the decarboxylation process is minimized while the formation of the photo-Fries rearrangement 119 is enhanced. The reverse appears to be true when nonpolar ethereal solvents are used. A considerable amount of biaryls are formed, and hence this reaction may prove useful for the preparation of biaryls and alkylary Is. 

From the point of view of quantum yields calculation, photo-Fries rearrangement, including phenol and products formation, represents a photoreaction (expressed by Eq. 3) in which all products absorb intensively in the absorption region of the starting phenyl ester A. 

A considerable amount of attention has also been paid to the photo-Fries rearrangement of polymer pendant groups. For example, the rearrangement of poly (phenyl acrylate) (10,11) in solution or in the solid-state, is usually incomplete and results in the formation of both the ortho and the para-hydroxyphenone rearranged products in amounts which vary with the conditions of the photolysis. A concurrent side-reaction, which we term the Fries degradation, also results in the liberation of small amounts of phenol (Scheme 2). Similar results have been obtained with poly (phenyl methacrylate) and other substituted aryl acrylates (4,9,12). 

The photo-Fries rearrangement of phenyl acetate in aqueous solution in the presence and absence of B-cyclodextrin has been reexamined. In aqueous solution a mixture of phenol and the ortho and para isomers of hydroxyacetophenone is produced. When 3-cyclodextrin is present the quantum efficiency of formation of phenol and of the ortho product is increased. It is suggested that the enhanced photochemical yield of the ortho product reflects the less polar environment of the cyclodextrin cavity while the increased quantum yield of phenol formation reflects the availability of abstractable hydrogen within the cyclodextrin cavity. 

Direct Photochemistry of PC Excitation of PC at short wavelength (e.g., 254 nm) involves mainly two consecutive photo-Fries rearrangements of the aromatic carbonate units leading successively to the formation of phenylsalicylate (Li) and dihydroxybenzophenone (L2) units as shown in Scheme 15.9. Photo-Fries products have been well defined by definite maxima in the UV and in the carbonyl range of the IR domain Lj at 320 nm and 1689 cm-1 andL2 at 355 nm and 1629 cm-1. 

Serum albumins have been employed as hosts for the photo-Fries rearrangement of 4-methoxy-l-naphthyl esters, at site I (acetate) and site II (monoglutarate) of the proteins. A species- and site-dependent quantum yield of product formation is observed the best results are obtained within site I of bovine serum albumin. ... 

If the photo-Fries reaction would occur via a concerted mechanism, the absence of solvent should be of minor importance for the formation of rearranged products. However, conclusive evidence supporting the radical pair mechanism arises from the experiments carried out with phenyl acetate (10) in the vapor phase. The major product in the irradiations of 10 is phenol (13), which accounts for 65% of the photoproducts. Under these conditions, less than 1% of ortho -hydroxyace-tophenone (11) appears to be formed [19,20]. Conversely, when a high cage effect is expected, as in rigid matrixes (i.e., polyethylene), the result is completely different, and phenol is practically absent from the reaction mixtures [29]. In the intermediate situation (liquid solution), both rearranged products and phenol are formed in variable amounts depending on solvent properties. These observations... 

Fries rearrangement of aromatic formate esters suggests that phenols are the major products (.24) obtained in the reaction. As poly(p-hydroxystyrene) is remarkably clear in the deep UV, it is likely that poly(p-formyloxystyrene) will not suffer from the same problem of photostabilization upon exposure as was the case with poly (p-acetoxystyrene). This expectation was confirmed by our study of the photo-Fries reaction of p-cresyl formate no ortho rearranged product was isolated after reaction while p-cresol and a small amount of starting material were obtained. 

Arenes of the type ArX-Y, where X may be O, S, or NR, frequently undergo facile photoinduced homolytic cleavage of the X-Y bond with the Y radical subsequently attacking the aromatic ring. The photo-Fries reaction is the most common process of this type and has been reported within the year for aromatic esters which form part of a ptolymer chain or are pendant groups on a polymer chain. In the former case, the rearrangement of fluorene-based polyacrylates [for example, (292)] was studied. Formation of the o-hydroxybenzophenone moiety in the product (293) was monitored by u.v. and... 

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