Photolysis with transition-metal complexes

Some reactions are difficult to study directly because the required instrumentation is not available or the changes in standard physical properties (light absorption, conductivity etc.) typically used in kinetic measurements are too small to be useful. Competition kinetics can provide important information in such cases. In some situations, the chemistry itself makes direct measurement inconvenient or even impossible. This is the case, for example, in studies of slow reactions of free radicals. Because of the ever-present radical-depleting second-order decomposition reactions, slow reactions of free radicals with added substrates are possible only at very low, steady-state radical concentrations. The standard methods of radical generation (pulse radiolysis and flash photolysis) are not useful in such cases, because they require micromolar levels of radicals for a measurable signal. The self-reactions usually have k > 10 M s , so that the competing reactions must have a pseudo-first-order rate constant of lO s or higher (or equivalent, if conditions are not pseudo-first order) to be observed. Competition experiments, on the other hand, can handle much lower rate constants, as described later for some reactions of C(CH3)20H radicals with transition metal complexes. 

Phase-transfer catalysis (PTC) is the most widely used method for solving the problem of the mutual insolubility of nonpolar and ionic compounds. Basic principles, synthetic uses, industrial applications of PTC, and its advantages over conventional methods are well documented [1-3]. PTC has become a powerful and widely accepted tool for organic chemists due to its efficiency, simplicity, and cost effectiveness. The main merit of the method is its universality. It may be applied to many types of reactions involving diverse classes of compounds. An important feature of PTC is its computability with other methods for the intensification of biphasic reactions (sonolysis, photolysis, microwaving, etc.) as well as with other types of catalysis, in particular, with transition-metal-complex catalysis. Homogeneous metal-complex catalysis under PTC conditions involves the simul-... 

NMR, 3, 542 oxidation, 3, 546 phosphorescence, 3, 543 photoelectron spectra, 3, 542 photolysis, 3, 549 reactions, 3, 543-555 with alkenes, 3, 50 with alkynes, 3, 50 with IH-azepines, 3, 552 with azirines, 3, 554 with cyclobutadiene, 3, 551 with cyclopropenes, 3, 550 with dimethylbicyclopropenyl, 3, 551 with heterocyclic transition metal complexes, 7, 28 29... 

Certain transition metal complexes catalyze the decomposition of diazo compounds. The metal-bonded carbene intermediates behave differently from the free species generated via photolysis or thermolysis of the corresponding carbene precursor. The first catalytic asymmetric cyclopropanation reaction was reported in 1966 when Nozaki et al.93 showed that the cyclopropane compound trans- 182 was obtained as the major product from the cyclopropanation of styrene with diazoacetate with an ee value of 6% (Scheme 5-56). This reaction was effected by a copper(II) complex 181 that bears a salicyladimine ligand. 

In addition to UV/visible flash photolysis and TRIR spectroscopy, other techniques have been used for the detection of transition metal-noble gas interactions in the gas phase. The interaction of noble gases with transition metal ions has been studied in detail. A series of cationic dimeric species, ML" " (M = V, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni L = Ar, Kr, or Xe), have been detected by mass-spectroscopic methods (55-58). It should be noted that noble gas cations L+ are isoelectronic with halogen atoms, therefore, this series of complexes is not entirely unexpected. The bond dissociation energies of these unstable complexes (Table IV) were determined either from the observed diabatic dissociation thresholds obtained from their visible photodissociation spectra or from the threshold energy for collision-induced dissociation. The bond energies are found to increase linearly with the polarizability of the noble gas. 

Of significant interest are the Ru(bipy)3"+ and Cr(bipy)3 + complexes. The former, along with derivatives, can be used as sensitizers in photolytic systems such as the photolysis of water, and the Ru /Ru couple can be tuned by varying the nature of the bipy ligand. The Cr(bipy)3 + cation is one of the standard substances for probing excited state photochemistry see Photochemistry of Transition Metal Complexes)... 

Photolysis (see Photochemistry of Transition Metal Complexes) of a mixture of CpRh(C2H4)2 and hexamethylbenzene in hexane solution forms a mixture of (183) and (184). Analogs are similarly formed with biphenyl under the same conditions. The tetrameric borole complex [Rh(/u-3-I)( -C4H4BPh)]4 is converted to [( ] -C4H4BPh)Rh(MeCN)3]BF4 by halide abstraction with AgBF4. The acetonitrile can be... 

In contrast to the typical behavior of organic compounds discussed above, many photoreactions of transition metal complexes have wavelength-dependent quantum yields (7). Generally, these wavelength effects have been interpreted in terms of more than one reactive excited state of the photolyzed species. The photoreactivity of V(CO) L (L = amine), for example, has been interpreted in this manner with the previously mentioned model of substitutional photoreactivity proposed by Wrighton et al. (42, 49,73). Assuming ligand dissociation to be the only primary photochemical process (Section III-B-1), photolysis of W(C0)5L could produce three primary products ... 

ROS may also affect microorganisms through the production of toxic trace metal species. For example, the photolysis of organic Cu-complexes and interactions with 02 may increase the Cu bioavailability and hence Cu toxicity to phytoplankton. This interaction with transition metals is likely to be one of the main processes through which photochemically produced 02 , or other charged ROS, can have an adverse affect on aquatic biota but further studies are needed to ascertain the ecological impact of these types of reactions in natural waters. 

The radical mechanism of OA occurs only for polar substrates. A free radical initiator (I) is made, typically by photolysis or electrochemical means. The initiator reacts with the metal complex to oxidize it by one electron, as shown in Figure 19.10. The species can then react with RX to generate R-. The R- radical undergoes a chain reaction with a second metal complex to make R-M " -X and another R- radical. This continues until chain termination by two R radicals coupling together or by radical trapping. The propagation step in the mechanism competes with isomerization or racemization of R-, so that the product is almost always a racemic mixture of optical isomers when a chiral C atom is used. Unlike the S 2 mechanism, the rate of the reaction is independent of steric bulk on the transition metal. Furthermore, the reaction sequence with respect to 3°>2°> I >CH3 (which maps with the... 

A number of studies have appeared dealing with the effect of solvent viscosity upon the charge-transfer-to-metal (CTTM) excitation of cobalt(m) complexes. " Irradiation of [Co(NH3)5X] + ions (X = Cl, Br, N3, or NCS) at 400 nm > A 214 nm indicates that the solvent plays a more active role in CTTM photochemistry of transition-metal complexes than previously suspected. Photolysis of [Co(NH3)6X] + ions (X = NOj or Ns) in polymer solutions indicates that the... 

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