Reactions of Excited Triplets

Triplet decay processes most interesting to photochemists involve molecular rearrangements and reactions with other compounds. It must be emphasized that the rates of these chemical reactions vary over many orders of magnitude so that some occur to the exclusion of physical decay while others barely compete with phosphorescence, 

---

Wong S K, Hutchinson D A and Wan J K S 1973 Chemically induced dynamic electron polarization. II. A general theory for radicals produced by photochemical reactions of excited triplet carbonyl compounded. Chem. Phys. 58 985-9... 

TABLE 9.13. Bimolecular Rate Constants for the Reaction of Excited Triplet Diarylcarbenes with Snhstrates"... 

The problem of accurately determining rates of quenching is important not only for understanding energy transfer but also for estimating rates of physical and chemical reactions of excited triplet species. Quenching studies of the Stern-Volmer type184 yield values of kQrT, where rT is the lifetime of the triplet species and kq is the rate constant with which some compound quenches it. Since quantum-yield and product-yield measurements allow rT to be factored into rate constants for individual reactions, absolute values of these reaction rate constants can be determined provided that the absolute value of... 

The probability that an excited state will react is defined according to its rate parameters simply as kTz, where kr is the rate constant for the reaction and t is the kinetic lifetime of the excited state (tt for the triplet), determined by the rates of all reactions undergone by that state. The unimolecular physical reactions of excited triplets are spin-forbidden and therefore relatively slow, so that chemical reactions are often highly efficient (krTT = 1). 

Bisby, R. and Parker, A. W. (1995) Reactions of excited triplet duroquinone with alpha-tocopherol and ascorbate a nanosecond laser flash photolysis and time-resolved resonance Raman investigation. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 117, 5664-5664. 

Another common hydrogen transfer reaction of carbonyl triplet is the photoenolization of the c-methylbenzoyl chromophore, illustrated in reaction 3 for the syn conformer of c-methylaceto-phenone (j+). Reaction 3 can act as a very efficient energy sink, and a number of properties of this group led us to believe that this process could be used to reduce photodegradation i.e. the excellent absorption characteristics of the chromophore, the short triplet lifetime and the fact that the disappearance of the carbonyl triplet does not take place at the expense of the formation of another excited state. 

An external magnetic field was observed to have practically no effect on the intensity of the thianthrene (430 nm) emission, indicating that no triplet states are involved. The shorter-wavelength emission of the oxadiazole 102, however, is probably due to a triplet-triplet annihilation reaction of diphenyloxadiazole triplets. These are produced in the radical-ion reaction between 101 and 102, yielding thianthrene excited-singlet molecules and diphenyl-oxadiazole excited-triplet molecules ... 

In contrast to 2-alkylarylcarbenes, triplet carbonyl carbenes do not abstract H from 5- or e-CH bonds. Photolysis of diazo compounds (7) in methanol gave products due to Wolff rearrangement (8) and 0-H insertion (9). Sensitized photolysis led, in addition, to the H-abstraction product (10). Analysis of the results indicated that a large proportion of the insertion product (9) arises from the excited diazo compound and that spin inversion of the triplet carbene is faster than H-abstraction from the solvent. Intersystem crossing to the singlet state is a major reaction of all triplet carbonyl carbenes that are not rapidly scavenged intramolecularly. 

Photosensitized decomposition of 9b in substituted benzenes led to similar results [83DIS(B)(44)1113]. Therefore, either spin inversion from the triplet to the singlet form of 4-diazoimidazole is faster than the decomposition of the excited diazo compound, or intersystem crossing from the triplet to singlet carbene is easier and faster than the reaction of the triplet state with substrates. 

Any attempt to correlate chemical reactivity of excited triplets with their structure must take account of both the fact that they are highly energetic and the common necessity for systems to undergo spin changes before stable products can be formed. It is worthwhile to look at some properties and reactions of ground state triplet species, in which the conversion of electronic excitation energy to other forms of energy is not an immediate problem. 

Most of the fairly extensive photochemistry of aromatic compounds has not been studied in sufficient detail to permit disentanglement of singlet and triplet mechanisms. Theoretical calculations indicate that the pattern of substituent effects on side-chain reactions of excited disubstituted benzenes should be quite different from that observed in the ground states of the molecules. One problem associated with these predictions is the question of whether or not they are appropriate for triplets as well as for corresponding singlet excited states. Consider the following system ... 

Because of the relatively slow rates of unimolecular reactions of excited acetone in solution at room temperature, acetone makes a convenient solvent-sensitizer for photosensitizatioh studies, provided that the substrate does not undergo competing chemical reactions with triplet acetone. A recent study of the effects of high-energy radiation on dilute acetone solutions of polynuclear aromatic molecules revealed that the triplet states of these compounds were being formed at close to the diffusion-controlled rate by collision with some pre-... 

The results described in this article establish that the stilbenes are among the most versatile of organic reactants in bimolecular photochemical reactions. Only triplet cyclo-alkenones can rival the ability of It to dimerize, form [2+2] adducts with both electron-rich and electron-poor alkenes, and form acyclic adducts with amines, heterocycles, and noncon-jugated dienes. All of the known bimolecular photochemical reactions of excited stilbenes involve It as the reactive excited state. The failure of - -c, and 3C to undergo bi-... 

---