Singlet oxygen dioxetanes

The cyclobutadiene structure (36), like cycloalkyne (37), also formed an adduct with singlet oxygen (dioxetane 143), which rearranged to a dione product (144 equation 31) (79LA473). 

Dioxetanes are obtained from an a-halohydroperoxide by treatment with base (41), or reaction of singlet oxygen with an electron-rich olefin such as tetraethoxyethylene or 10,10 -dimethyl-9,9 -biacridan [23663-77-6] (16) (25,42). 

Classical chemiluminescence from lucigenin (20) is obtained from its reaction with hydrogen peroxide in water at a pH of about 10 Qc is reported to be about 0.5% based on lucigenin, but 1.6% based on the product A/-methylacridone which is formed in low yield (46). Lucigenin dioxetane (17) has been prepared by singlet oxygen addition to an electron-rich olefin (16) at low temperature (47). Thermal decomposition of (17) gives of 1.6% (47). 

Dioxetane decomposition has also been proposed to account for chemiluminescence from other reactions (43), including gas-phase reactions of singlet oxygen with ethylene and vinyl ethers (53). 

Characteristic reactions of singlet oxygen lead to 1,2-dioxetane (addition to olefins), hydroperoxides (reaction with aHyhc hydrogen atom), and endoperoxides (Diels-Alder "4 -H 2" cycloaddition). Many specific examples of these spectrally sensitized reactions are found iu reviews (45—48), earlier texts (15), and elsewhere iu the Engchpedia. 

Another interesting cycloaddition, the detailed mechanism of which is still under investigation, is the addition of singlet oxygen to alkenes producing 1,2-dioxetanes (Section 5.15.3.3.2). 

Cycloaddition reactions can occur with retention of configuration in the pseudoexcitation band (Sect 1.1) whereas [2jt H-2jtJ reactions are symmetry-forbidden in the delocalization band. Experimental evidence is available for the stereospecific [2-1-2] cycloaddition reactions between A and olefins with retention of configuration (Scheme 14) [82]. A perepoxide intermediate was reported to be trapped in the epoxide form [83] in the reaction of adamantylideneadamantane with singlet oxygen affording dioxetane derivatives [84]. 

Other speculative mechanisms [26] may be proposed based on the presence of singlet oxygen and C = C in oxidized polymer. The reaction of the latter may lead to the transient formation of dioxetanes, the decomposition of which has an even higher quantum yield of luminescence than CIEEL mechanism [27],... 

Dioxetan-ones appear to be intermediates in the chemiluminescent reaction of singlet oxygen with ketenes, in the presence of fluorescers 81> ... 

The dioxetane derivative 79 may be formed as intermediate in the brilliant chemiluminescence reaction between 10,10 -dimethyl-9,9 -bi-acridylidene and excited-singlet oxygen 125>. Chemiluminescence also occurs when potassium cyanide is added to lucigenin solutions in the... 

Singlet oxygen reacts with electron rich or highly strained alkenes to form 1,2-dioxetanes. These four-membered ring peroxides decompose on warming to two carbonyl compounds (or moieties), usually with appearance of light emission (chemiluminescence). The macrocyclic bis-lactone in (6.17)608>, a musk fragrance, has been synthesized via such a sequence. 

Enamines which cannot undergo ene-like reactions add efficiently to singlet oxygen. The intermediate dioxetane can be cleaved under mild conditions to afford a ketone (and an amide). Such a sequence has been applied in a synthesis of testosterone (6.18) 624). 

The reaction mechanism for the aerobic oxidation of the pz to seco-pz can be attributed to a formal 2 + 2 cycloaddition of singlet oxygen to one of the pyrrole rings, followed by cleavage (retro 2 + 2) of the dioxetane intermediate to produce the corresponding seco-pz (160). This mechanism is shown in Scheme 29 for an unsymmetrical bis(dimethylamino)pz. Further photophysical studies show that the full reaction mechanism of the photoperoxidation involves attack on the reactant by singlet oxygen that has been sensitized by the triplet state of the product, 159. As a consequence, the kinetics of the process is shown to be autocatalytic where the reactant is removed at a rate that increases with the amount of product formed. 

Certain compounds react with singlet oxygen in a different manner, giving dioxetanes as products.129... 

The phenyl ring of styrene substrates directs a syn selectivity in their ene reactions with singlet oxygen. This effect was demonstrated by the photooxygenation of / ,/ -dimethyl styrene (20). This substrate, apart from the ene product, produces the 1,2-dioxetane and two diastereomeric diendoperoxides as shown in Scheme 9. 

Previous studies have shown that the rate of the O2 ene reaction with alkenes shows neghgible dependence on solvent polarity . A small variation in the distribution of the ene products by changing solvent was reported earlier . However, no mechanistic explanation was offered to account for the observed solvent effects. It is rather difficult to rationahze these results based on any of the currently proposed mechanisms of singlet oxygen ene reactions. Nevertheless, product distribution depends substantially on solvent polarity and reaction temperature only in substrates where both ene and dioxetane products are produced ° . 

As already hinted at above, chiral dioxetanes, obtained through the highly stereoselective [2 + 2] cycloaddition of singlet oxygen to the chiral enecarbamate, provide a convenient preparation of optically active 1,2 diols as building blocks for asymmetric synthesis (Scheme 5) . Reduction of the dioxetane 2c by L-methionine, followed by release of the oxazolidinone auxiliary by NaBH4/DBU reduction, affords the enantiomerically pure like-5 diol (for additional cases, see Table 4 in Reference 19e). 

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