Rotation processes, photochemical

Photocycloaddition of Alkenes and Dienes. Photochemical cycloadditions provide a method that is often complementary to thermal cycloadditions with regard to the types of compounds that can be prepared. The theoretical basis for this complementary relationship between thermal and photochemical modes of reaction lies in orbital symmetry relationships, as discussed in Chapter 10 of Part A. The reaction types permitted by photochemical excitation that are particularly useful for synthesis are [2 + 2] additions between two carbon-carbon double bonds and [2+2] additions of alkenes and carbonyl groups to form oxetanes. Photochemical cycloadditions are often not concerted processes because in many cases the reactive excited state is a triplet. The initial adduct is a triplet 1,4-diradical that must undergo spin inversion before product formation is complete. Stereospecificity is lost if the intermediate 1,4-diradical undergoes bond rotation faster than ring closure. 

The present paper reviews our study of the thermal and photochemical atropisomerization of a number of "picket fence (substituted TPP) porphyrins. The study of the thermal atropisomerization with a number of different free-base and diacid "picket fence porphyrins indicates that the thermal process likely involves a simple rotation around the porphyrin-phenyl bond in which ruffling of the porphyrin ring can assist but is not prerequisite ... 

The photochemical conversion of 3-phenylazirine into benzonitrilio methylide in a nitrogen matrix at 12 K was found to be a completely reversible process (4). In contrast, however, it is reported that acetonitrilio fluorenylide 85 (R=Me) is photostable at 77 K and does not convert into the corresponding azirine (55). This stability was attributed to a steric limitation on bond rotation. 

Organic solids have received much attention in the last 10 to 15 years especially because of possible technological applications. Typically important aspects of these solids are superconductivity (of quasi one-dimensional materials), photoconducting properties in relation to commercial photocopying processes and photochemical transformations in the solid state. In organic solids formed by nonpolar molecules, cohesion in the solid state is mainly due to van der Waals forces. Because of the relatively weak nature of the cohesive forces, organic crystals as a class are soft and low melting. Nonpolar aliphatic hydrocarbons tend to crystallize in approximately close-packed structures because of the nondirectional character of van der Waals forces. Methane above 22 K, for example, crystallizes in a cubic close-packed structure where the molecules exhibit considerable rotation. The intermolecular C—C distance is 4.1 A, similar to the van der Waals bonds present in krypton (3.82 A) and xenon (4.0 A). Such close-packed structures are not found in molecular crystals of polar molecules. 

The quantum yield for the primary photochemical process differs from that of the end product when secondary reactions occur. Transient species produced as intermediates can only be studied by special techniques such as flash photolysis, rotating sector devices, use of scavengers, etc. Suitable spectroscopic techniques can be utilized for their observations (UV, IR, NMR, ESR, etc.). A low quantum yield for reaction in solutions may sometimes be caused by recombination of the products due to solvent cage effect. 

Electronic to vibrational and rotational (E-V-R) energy transfer certainly belongs to the elementary processes in chemical reaction dynamics and, in particular, in photochemistry. A fairly general type of photochemical reaction may be written as follows ... 

Positional changes of atoms in a molecule or supermolecule correspond on the molecular scale to mechanical processes at the macroscopic level. One may therefore imagine the engineering of molecular machines that would be thermally, photochem-ically or electrochemically activated [1.7,1.9,8.3,8.109,8.278]. Mechanical switching processes consist of the reversible conversion of a bistable (or multistable) entity between two (or more) structurally or conformationally different states. Hindered internal rotation, configurational changes (for instance, cis-trans isomerization in azobenzene derivatives), intercomponent reorientations in supramolecular species (see Section 4.5) embody mechanical aspects of molecular behaviour. 

---