Intermolecular Photochemical Reactions

Either UV-VIS or IR spectroscopy can be combined with the technique of matrix isolation to detect and identify highly unstable intermediates. In this method, the intomediate is trapped in a solid inert matrix, usually one of the inert gases, at very low temperatures. Because each molecule is surrounded by inert gas atoms, there is no possiblity for intermolecular reactions and the rates of intramolecular reactions are slowed by the low temperature. Matrix isolation is a very useful method for characterizing intermediates in photochemical reactions. The method can also be used for gas-phase reactions which can be conducted in such a way that the intermediates can be rapidly condensed into the matrix. 

Intermolecular photocycloadditions of alkenes can be carried out by photosensitization with mercury or directly with short-wavelength light.179 Relatively little preparative use has been made of this reaction for simple alkenes. Dienes can be photosensitized using benzophenone, butane-2,3-dione, and acetophenone.180 The photodimerization of derivatives of cinnamic acid was among the earliest photochemical reactions to be studied.181 Good yields of dimers are obtained when irradiation is carried out in the crystalline state. In solution, cis-trans isomerization is the dominant reaction. 

The second group of intermolecular reactions (2) includes [1, 2, 9, 10, 13, 14] electron transfer, exciplex and excimer formations, and proton transfer processes (Table 1). Photoinduced electron transfer (PET) is often responsible for fluorescence quenching. PET is involved in many photochemical reactions and plays... 

In this chapter are summarized the photochemical reactions wherein the primary chemical event is inter- or intramolecular hydrogen transfer to the excited chromophor. In intermolecular reactions hydrogen abstraction usually implies reduction or hydrodimerization of the excited molecule intramolecular hydrogen abstraction is frequently followed by either ring closure of the diradical or fragmentation to afford unsaturated molecules. 

Photochemical reactions of the pyrimidine polymers in solution were studied to determine the quantum yields of the intramolecular photodimerization of the pyrimidine units along the polymer chains. Photoreactions of the polymers were carried out in very dilute solutions to avoid an intermolecular(interchain) photodimerization. Quantum yields determined at 280 nm for the polymers (1-6 in Figure 1) are listed in Table I. The quantum yield of the 5-bromouracil polymer [poly(MAOU-5Br)] could not be determined because of side reactions of the base during the irradiation. 

Both target compounds discussed in this review, kelsoene (1) and preussin (2), provide a fascinating playground for synthetic organic chemists. The construction of the cyclobutane in kelsoene limits the number of methods and invites the application of photochemical reactions as key steps. Indeed, three out of five completed syntheses are based on an intermolecular enone [2+2]-photocycloaddition and one—our own—is based on an intramolecular Cu-catalyzed [2+2]-photocycloaddition. A unique approach is based on a homo-Favorskii rearrangement as the key step. Contrary to that, the pyrrolidine core of preussin offers a plentitude of synthetic alternatives which is reflected by the large number of syntheses completed to date. The photochemical pathway to preussin has remained unique as it is the only route which does not retrosynthetically disconnect the five-membered heterocycle. The photochemical key step is employed for a stereo- and regioselective carbo-hydroxylation of a dihydropyrrole precursor. 

A quantitative solid-state ene addition between two ligands of the platinum complex 397 gives the rearranged platinum complex 398 upon extensive heating to 140 °C [123]. This rearrangement reaction (cf. Sect. 24) is treated here, as it is the only known quantitative solid-state ene addition to date. Further quantitative solid-state [4-1-4] additions and higher vinylogs, as well as ene additions also of the intermolecular type, await detection both as thermal and photochemical reactions. 

Chiral l,3-dioxin-4-ones photochemically react intermolecular with (cyclic) ethers, acetals, and secondary alcohols to give the addition products in reasonable yields. The radical addition was completely stereoselective at C-6 of the heterocycle <1999EJO1057>. The exocyclic diastereoselectivity, where relevant, was about 2 1 (Equation 30). In analogy, an intramolecular cascade reaction of a 1,3-dioxin -one derived from menthone was used to get a terpenoid or a steroid framework in optically active form <1997JA1129, 1999JA4894>. 

Liquid crystals, as the name implies, are condensed phases in which molecules are neither isotropically oriented with respect to one another nor packed with as high a degree of order as crystals they can be made to flow like liquids but retain some of the intermolecular and intramolecular order of crystals (i.e., they are mesomorphic). Two basic types of liquid crystals are known lyotropic, which are usually formed by surfactants in the presence of a second component, frequently water, and thermotropic, which are formed by organic molecules. The thermotropic liquid-crystalline phases are emphasized here they exist within well-defined ranges of temperature, pressure, and composition. Outside these bounds, the phase may be isotropic (at higher temperatures), crystalline (at lower temperatures), or another type of liquid crystal. Liquid-crystalline phases may be thermodynamically stable (enantiotropic) or unstable (monotropic). Because of their thermodynamic instability, the period during which monotropic phases retain their mesomorphic properties cannot be predicted accurately. For this reason it is advantageous to perform photochemical reactions in enantiotropic liquid crystals. 

A phase-selective photochemical reaction of 2-pyridones is observed. Irradiation of 225 in benzene gives mainly rearrangement products 226, whereas, in the solid state, [4+4] photocycloaddition to the photodimer 227 occurred in quantitative yield (Scheme 39) <20040L683>. The stereochemistry of the photodimer was exclusively the trans- /+configuration, as shown. This is presumably due to Jt-rt-stacking and dipole-dipole interactions between the pyridones. Intermolecular photocycloaddition of 2-pyridone mixtures can be selective and lead to useful quantities of [4+4] cycloaddition cross-products <1999JOC950>. 

If the absorbing species is in a condensed phase, intermolecular interactions may arise that control the fate of the excited-state entity, eg when the excited molecule is in a solvent cage and the initial photochemical reaction relies on the homo-lytic or heterolytic bond fission, diffusion of the initial products (radicals) from the same precursor is inhibited. Instead the products remain in the cage for several vibration periods which enables the back reaction to form the substrate or its isomeric form [4-6],... 

There are many ways in which the excited species can react in general the photochemical reactions may be classified as intramolecular and intermolecular, depending on their mono- and bimolecular pathways, respectively (Figure 6.2). The former processes predominate in diluted phases, whereas the latter are observed mostly in condensed phases. 

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