Photoinduced Electron Transfer in Radical Reactions

Production of radical-ions (D-+) and (A ) depends on the oxidation potential 1/2 (D), the reduction potential 1/2 (A) of the starting molecules and on the electronic excitation energy 00, according to the Rehm-Weller equation, where the Coulombic interaction term (A c) in polar solvents such as acetonitrile can be neglected to a first approximation [3]. 

The transformation of a radical-cation into a radical involves processes such as carbon-hydrogen dissociation, carbon-metal bond dissociation, carbon-carbon bond dissociation (this latter process is not frequently encountered and will not be treated in this review) and nucleophilic addition. 

---

Cossy J (2001) Photoinduced electron transfer in radical reactions. In Renaud P,... 

It has been reported that Cgo and its derivatives form optically transparent microscopic clusters in mixed solvents [25, 26]. Photoinduced electron-transfer and photoelectrochemical reactions using the C o clusters have been extensively reported because of the interesting properties of C o clusters [25,26]. The M F Es on the decay of the radical pair between a Cgo cluster anion and a pyrene cation have been observed in a micellar system [63]. However, the MFEs on the photoinduced electron-transfer reactions using the Cgo cluster in mixed solvents have not yet been studied. 

Photoinduced electron transfer promoted cyclization reactions of a-silyl-methyl amines have been described by two groups. The group of Pandey cyclized amines of type 135 obtaining pyrrolidines and piperidines 139 in high yields [148]. The cyclization of the a-silylated amine 140 leads to a 1 1 mixture of the isomers 141 and 142 [149]. The absence of diastereoselectivity in comparison to analogous 3-substituted-5-hexenyl radical carbocyclization stereochemistry [9] supports the notion that a reaction pathway via a free radical is unlikely in this photocyclization. The proposed mechanism involves delocalized a-silylmethyl amine radical cations as reactive intermediates. For stereochemical purposes, Pandey has investigated the cyclization reaction of 143, yielding... 

Photoinduced electron transfer in the presence of a sensitizer (9,10-diphenylan-thracene) also generates the same anion radical. However, its disintegration proceeds within the solvent (acetonitrile) cage. Inside the cage, 4-nitrobenzyl radical and thiocyanate ion unite anew, but in this case by their soft-to-soft ends. This nucleophilic reaction takes place faster than the electron back-transfer occurs. The final, stable product of the whole process is 4- n i tro benzyl- iso- th iocy an ate (Wakamatsu et al. 2000) ... 

Enynes are also excellent substrates for tandem addition reactions. Pandey and co-workers have reported a photoinduced electron transfer (PET) promoted reaction of a selenium radical addition to an enyne [95T1483]. The high stereoselectivity observed in this cyclization is noteworthy. 

Photoinduced electron-transfer in the opposite direction was demonstrated upon irradiation of the Ru(bpy)3 +-Mb system in the presence of Co +(NH3)5Cl as a sacrificial electron acceptor (Figure 44B) [244]. The photochemical reaction results in the formation of ferryl species (i.e., Fe(IV)-heme), with the intermediate formation of the porphyrin cation radical (as demonstrated using laser flash photolysis [237]). The electron-transfer cascade includes the primary oxidative quenching of the excited chromophore, Ru(bpy)3"+, by Co +(NH3)5Cl to yield Ru(bpy)3 + [E° = +1.01 V vs. SCE). The resulting oxidant efficiently takes an electron from the porphyrin ring (fcet = 8.5 x 10 s ) and the porphyrin cation radical produced further oxidizes the central iron atom, converting it from the Fe(III) state to the Fe(IV) state (/cet = 4.0 x 10 s at pH 7.5). 

Topics which have formed the subjects of reviews this year include excited state chemistry within zeolites, photoredox reactions in organic synthesis, selectivity control in one-electron reduction, the photochemistry of fullerenes, photochemical P-450 oxygenation of cyclohexene with water sensitized by dihydroxy-coordinated (tetraphenylporphyrinato)antimony(V) hexafluorophosphate, bio-mimetic radical polycyclisations of isoprenoid polyalkenes initiated by photo-induced electron transfer, photoinduced electron transfer involving C o/CjoJ comparisons between the photoinduced electron transfer reactions of 50 and aromatic carbonyl compounds, recent advances in the chemistry of pyrrolidino-fullerenes, ° photoinduced electron transfer in donor-linked fullerenes," supra-molecular model systems,and within dendrimer architecture,photoinduced electron transfer reactions of homoquinones, amines, and azo compounds, photoinduced reactions of five-membered monoheterocyclic compounds of the indigo group, photochemical and polymerisation reactions in solid Qo, photo- and redox-active [2]rotaxanes and [2]catenanes, ° reactions of sulfides and sulfenic acid derivatives with 02( Ag), photoprocesses of sulfoxides and related compounds, semiconductor photocatalysts,chemical fixation and photoreduction of carbon dioxide by metal phthalocyanines, and multiporphyrins as photosynthetic models. 

The photocyanation of pyrene in a microchaimel through an oil-water interface was investigated by Ueno et al. [13]. The microchips employed are made of polystyrene by embossing with a silicone template. The phase transfer reaction proceeds in four steps as depicted in Figure 16.2. In the first step, a photoinduced electron transfer in the oil phase (polycarbonate) occurs from the aromatic hydrocarbon pyrene (DH) to the electron acceptor 1,4-dicyanobenzene (A). The cationic DH " radical is subsequently the target of the nucleophilic attack of the cyanide anion at the oil-water interface. The cyanated product DCN is insoluble in water and goes back into the oil phase. Experiments without a cyanide source (NaCN) in the aqueous phase show no reaction. Hence it can be excluded that the nudeophilic-substituted cyanide originates from the electron acceptor 1,4-dicyanobenzene. 

Sekiguchi S, Kobori Y, Akiyama K and Tero-Kubota S 1998 Marcus free energy dependence of the sign of exchange interactions in radical ion pairs generated by photoinduced electron transfer reactions J. Am. Chem. Soc. 120 1325-6... 

The importance of tertiary amines in the photochemically induced electron transfer reactions has also been addressed5. Direct irradiation of aromatic or aliphatic amines often leads to the scission of C—N, N—H or C—H bonds that lead to the subsequent chemical reactions by radical pathways6. In this section, photochemical reactions of amines reported since 1978 will be considered with emphasis on photoinduced electron transfer. Photochemical reactions of inorganic and organometallic compounds will not be included unless photochemistry of amine moieties is the primary interest. 

The amide functionality plays an important role in the physical and chemical properties of proteins and peptides, especially in their ability to be involved in the photoinduced electron transfer process. Polyamides and proteins are known to take part in the biological electron transport mechanism for oxidation-reduction and photosynthesis processes. Therefore studies of the photochemistry of proteins or peptides are very important. Irradiation (at 254 nm) of the simplest dipeptide, glycylglycine, in aqueous solution affords carbon dioxide, ammonia and acetamide in relatively high yields and quantum yield (0.44)202 (equation 147). The reaction mechanism is thought to involve an electron transfer process. The isolation of intermediates such as IV-hydroxymethylacetamide and 7V-glycylglycyl-methyl acetamide confirmed the electron-transfer initiated free radical processes203 (equation 148). 

The photochemical reduction of 1-methylquinolinium ions by (TMS)3SiH proceeds regioselectively to afford the corresponding 1,4-dihydroquinones in a water-acetonitrile solvent system (Reaction 4.47) [83]. Mechanistic studies demonstrated that the reactions are initiated by photoinduced electron transfer from the silane to the singlet excited states of 1-methylquinolinium ions to give the silane radical cation-quinolinyl radical pairs, followed by hydrogen transfer in the cage to yield 1,4-dihydroquinones and silicenium ion. Silyl cations are quenched by water. 

Until now, the isotopic effect was discnssed only in relation to the reactants. In electron-transfer reactions, the solvent plays an eqnally important role. As mentioned, different solvate forms are possible for reactants, transition states, and products. Therefore, it seems important to find a reaction where the kinetic effect resulting from the introduction of an isotope would be present for solvents, but absent for reactants. For a published work concerning this problem, refer Yusupov and Hairutdinov (1987). In this work, the authors studied photoinduced electron transfer from magnesium ethioporphyrin to chloroform followed by a dark recombination of ion-radicals in frozen alcohol solutions. It was determined that the deuteration of chloroform does not affect the rate of transfer, whereas deuteration of the solvent reduces it. The authors correlate these results with the participation of solvent vibrational modes in the manner of energy diffraction during electron transfer. 

An useful alternative to the already known retropinacol reactions is presented by Liu and co-workers [7], This works demonstrates that pinacols bearing (dimethylamino)phenyl substiments can be subjected to fast oxidative fragmentation via photoinduced electron transfer with chloroform as the electron acceptor in yields up to 80%. The extremely fast dechlorination of the chloroform radical anion inhibits back-electron transfer and thus leads to effective fragmentation of the pinacol radical cation (Scheme 8). 

---