Photochemically induced domino processes

PET reactions [2] can be considered as versatile methods for generating radical cations from electron-rich olefins and aromatic compounds [3], which then can undergo an intramolecular cationic cyclization. Niwa and coworkers [4] reported on a photochemical reaction of l,l-diphenyl-l, -alkadienes in the presence of phenanthrene (Phen) and 1,4-dicyanobenzene (DCNB) as sensitizer and electron acceptor to construct 5/6/6- and 6/6/6-fused ring systems with high stereoselectivity. 

It can be assumed that in the domino process of, for example 5-3, a reactive radical cation intermediate 5-5 is initially formed [5]. The intramolecular cyclization then proceeds almost exclusively through a stable, chair-like, six-membered transition state 5-8 to give a distonic radical cation 5-9, which is trapped by the aromatic 

Domino Reactions in Organic Synthesis. Lutz F. Tietze, Gordon Brasche, and Kersten M. Gericke Copyright 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH Co. KGaA, Weinheim ISBN 3-527-29060-5 

In a similar approach, Demuth and coworkers used PET and employed 1,4-dicyano-tetramethylbenzene (DCTMB) and l,l -biphenyl (BP) to form radical cations as 5-11 from tetraenes as 5-10. 

A direct formation of 5-22 [e. g., of 2-amino-4-cyclopentene-l,3-diol (5-22, Nu = OH)], is observed if the photochemical reaction of 5-19 is performed under acidic conditions using HC104. After acetylation, the formed diacetate can be isolated in about 25 % yield. 

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Another photochemically induced domino process consisting of three steps was employed for the formation of 1,2-disubstituted cyclopentanes 5-39, as described by Tietze and coworkers. Irradiation of a mixture of 5-36, dimethyl malonate and catalytic amounts of the Lewis acid Me2AlCl in a Pyrex flask caused a Norish Type I cleavage of 5-36, followed by an intramolecular hydrogen shift to give the acyclic... 

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