Ring opening photoinduced

Azabicyclo[3.2.0]hepta-3,6-dienes are the 4 5 bicyclic valence isomers of 1//-azepines. In some cases there is an equilibrium between the bicycle and the azepine, whereas with other 1//-azepines photolysis yields an azabicycloheptadiene that can be isolated and characterized. For example, ethyl 2-azabicyclo[3.2.0]hepta-3,6-diene-2-carboxylate (1), the photoinduced valence isomer of ethyl l//-azepine-l-carboxylate (2), undergoes a clean, exothermic, first order, electrocyclic ring opening (AG = 20 kJ mol-1) to the parent 1//-azepine 2 on heating at 113-143C in an inert solvent (e.g., hexadecane).101... 

A general entry into the azonine system, c.g. 4, is by photoinduced electrocyclic ring opening of the bicyclic valence isomer 3,9 11-13 which is readily prepared by earboethoxynitrene addition to cyclooctatetraene. 

The research groups of Mariano and West developed a photoinduced electrocydi-zation/nucleophilic addition sequence. Thus, irradiation of N-alkylpyridinium perchlorates as 5-19 in an aqueous solution led to the aziridine cations 5-20, which react in a nucleophilic addition with OH to give the isolable azabicyclo[3.1.0]hex-2-enols 5-21. These can be further transformed by a nucleophilic ring-opening of the aziridine moiety under acidic conditions to lead to useful unsymmetrically trans,trans-trisubstituted cyclopentenes 5-22 (Scheme 5.5) [10]. 

Electron-transfer activation. The photoinduced electron-transfer activation of the [DBC, TCNE] complex generates the DBC+ cation radical, which undergoes a fast electrocyclic ring opening, i.e.,... 

Disubstituted 2,4-cyclohexadienones (112) undergo photoinduced electrocyclic ring opening to the transient ketene derivatives 113, which can be trapped by nucleophiles to prepare the corresponding carboxylic acid derivatives (114 equation 44)196 197 j le reaction has been employed successfully for the synthesis of various carboxylic acids, esters and amides. 

The ring opening of azirines under conditions of photoinduced electron transfer (PET) gives, not a nitrile ylide, but the short-lived 2-azaallenyl radical cation 108... 

Substituted cyclopropane systems also undergo nucleophilic addition of suitable solvents (MeOH). For example, the photoinduced ET reaction of 1,2-dimethyl-3-phenylcyclopropane (112, R = Me) with p-dicyanobenzene formed a ring-opened ether by anti-Markovnikov addition. The reaction occurs with essentially complete inversion of configuration at carbon, suggesting a nucleophilic cleavage of a one-electron cyclopropane bond, generating 113. The retention of chirality confirms that the stereochemistry of the parent molecule is unperturbed in the radical cation 112 " ". 

We demonstrate by using ultrafast time resolved spectroscopy that the photoconversion from dihydroazulene (DHA) to vinylheptafulvene (VHF) is governed by two mechanisms The ring opening proceeds on the excited energy surface on the picosecond time scale. It is followed by an internal conversion to the VHF ground state that is accelerated by the presence of a conical intersection in the case of cyclopenta-DHA. This conical intersection hinders the photoinduced back reaction from the final VHF products. However, we successfully photo-converted the cyanophenyl-VHF-cis back to the DHA in an experiment with two delayed pulses. This opens the route to the development of bistable dihydroazulene switches. 

C-C Cleavage in Epoxides. Radical cations generated by photoinduced electron transfer from epoxides (130) or aziridlnes (131) also ring open, giving oxidative products in the presence of oxygen. For example, dicyanoanthracene sensitizes the conversion of aryl epoxides to ozonides, eq. 48,... 

The formation of the [3 + 2] cycloadduct 89 can be explained by two different reaction pathways (Scheme 36). Irradiation at 300 nm leads to ring opening of the azirine 88 to the nitrile ylide as an intermediate which adds to C6o yielding the observed product 89. No product formation is observed at wavelengths > 400 nm. Instead, under photoinduced electron transfer conditions in the presence of... 

The third mechanism of isomerization, photoinduced rearrangements of radical cations, has been pursued in a variety of systems. Matrix isolated radical cations have been noted to undergo some rigorous reorganizations as well as subtle ones. For example, the ring opening of cyclohexadiene to hexatriene radical cation and the interconversion of its different rotamers have been achieved by irradiation with UV or visible light [173-174]. 

Fig. 13. CIDNP effects observed for the cyclobutane signals of the dimethylindene dimer during the photoinduced electron transfer reaction with chloranil (a), and simulated spectra based on the radical pair theory and assuming a ring-opened (extended) dimer radical cation (b), a ring-closed (localized) dimer radical cation (c) and the consecutive ( cooperative ) involvement of open and closed radical cations (d) [256]...

Photoinduced electron transfer from the carboxylate ion to the excited triplet phthalimide (fcT = 293-300 kj mol-1) appears to be followed by a rapid protonation of the radical anion and cyclization via a biradical recombination reaction (Scheme 9.1). Acetone (which also acts as photosensitizer) containing a small amount of water is the solvent of choice, whereas potassium carbonate is the ideal base to enhance cyclization versus simple decarboxylation and ring opening of the phthalimide [4]. 

Conversely, the photoinduced ring-opening of cyclobutenes allows the construction of medium-sized hetero- or carbocycles, starting from bicyclic frameworks. Alkenes can undergo thermal (metal-assisted) or photochemical [2 + 2]-cycloaddition to a variety of alkynes the subsequent two-carbon ring-enlargement can serve as a versatile method for the preparation of hydroazulenes and dioxacyclooctadiene derivatives (Scheme 9.44) [74, 75]. 

As an extension of this work, photoinduced [2+2]-cycloadditions of 1-acetylisatin (13) with cyclic enolethers (furan, benzofuran, 2-phenylfuran, 8-methoxypsoralen), and acyclic enolethers (//-butyl vinyl ether and vinyl acetate) were investigated which afforded the spiro-oxetanes in high yields (82-96%) and with high regio- and diastereoselectivity (Sch. 4) [19]. Treatment of the furan-derived oxetane 15 with acid resulted in oxetane ring opening and yielded the 3-(furan-3-yl)indole derivative 16. 

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