Singlet path

In some instances when the carbene centre is adjacent to a ring, opening or fragmentation takes place. This is exemplified in one of the attempts to synthesize tetrahedrane from the carbene produced on irradiation of 484. Here, cyclization did not occur and instead the formation of two alkynes 485 and 486 results . Such ring opening appears to be the result of the generation of a triplet carbene. The singlet path is followed by 487 and the... 

Bryce-Smith and Gilbert [37] postulate the presence along the singlet path-way of a biradical intermediate, prefulvene, with fused three-membered and five-membered rings. A triplet biradical of that structure was found by Oikawa et al. [38] in their computational investigation of the lowest triplet pathway. The Ti states of benzene and benzvalene have the same space-symmetry (Bi) in C2y and Si(Ai) (but not S2(-Bi) ) can indeed cross to the T ,(5i) triplet component at the surface crossing. Spin-non-conservative formation of the triplet prefulvene biradical from Si can therefore not be excluded, particularly since fulvene is produced along with benzvalene [37]. 

A short-path distillation apparatus is used, the distillate (oxa-spiropentane plus dichloromethane) being trapped in a reeeiver placed in a methanol-dry ice bath cooled to — 80°. The checkers found it useful to drive out last traces of product by adding several milliliters of dichloromethane to the residual thick paste and distilling. The proton magnetic resonance spectrum (dichloromethane) shows an oetet at 8 0.85 and a singlet at S 3.00 in the ratio 4 2. 

The red line follows the progress of the reaction path. First, a butadiene compound b excited into its first excited state (either the cis or trans form may be used—we will be considering the cis conformation). What we have illustrated as the lower excited state is a singlet state, resulting from a single excitation from the HOMO to the LUMO of the n system. The second excited state is a Ag state, corresponding to a double excitation from HOMO to LUMO. The ordering of these two excited states is not completely known, but internal conversion from the By state to the Ag state i.s known to occur almost immediately (within femtoseconds). 

The mechanism of the Patemo-Biichi reaction is not well understood, and while a general pathway has been proposed and widely aceepted, it is apparent that it does not represent the full scope of reactions. Biichi originally proposed that the reaction occurred by light catalyzed stimulation of the carbonyl moiety 1 into an excited singlet state 4. Inter-system crossing then led to a triplet state diradical 5 which could be quenched by olefinic radical acceptors. Intermediate diradical 6 has been quenched or trapped by other radical acceptors and is generally felt to be on the reaction path of the large majority of Patemo-Biichi reactions. Diradical 6 then recombines to form product oxetane 3. 

It is evident from the exceptions noted that the mechanism proposed above does not fully capture the pathways open to the Patemo-Biichi reaction. A great deal of effort has been devoted to deconvoluting all of the possible variants of the reaction. Reactions via singlet state carbonyls, charge-transfer paths, pre-singlet exciplexes, and full electron transfer paths have all been proposed. Unfortunately, their influence on product... 

Finally, metalated epoxides undergo isomerization processes characteristic of traditional carbenoids (Scheme 5.2, Path C). The structure of a metalated epoxide is intermediate in nature between the structures 2a and 2b (Scheme 5.2). The existence of this intermediacy is supported by computational studies, which have shown that the a-C-O bond of oxirane elongates by -12% on a-lithiation [2], Furthermore, experimentally, the a-lithiooxycarbene 4a (Scheme 5.3) returned cydo-pentene oxide 7 among its decomposition products indeed, computational studies of singlet 4a suggest it possesses a structure in the gas phase that is intennediate in nature between an a-lithiocarbene and the lithiated epoxide 4b [3],... 

After 28 years the perepoxide quasi-intermediate was supported by a two-step no intermediate mechanism [71, 72]. The minimum energy path on the potential energy surface of the reaction between singlet molecular oxygen ( A and dg-teramethylethylene reaches a vaUey-ridge inflection point and then bifurcates leading to the two final products [73]. 

Following the discovery of the ene reaction of singlet molecular oxygen ( Ap (Scheme 15) in 1953 by Schenck [88], this fascinating reaction continues to receive considerable mechanistic attention today. The importance of a path via the perepoxide intermediate or a perepoxide-Iike transition state [13] or the perepoxide quasi-intermediate [70] was proposed for the ene reactions of singlet oxygen with alkenes affording allylic hydroperoxides. 

The delocalization-polarization mechanism in the singlet state is more complicated than that in triplet. Similar to the triplet state, there also exists a cyclic - G- T - E- T - configuration or -7t-p-7t -q- (-o-p-o -q-) orbital interaction in the singlet (Fig. 6). In the singlet state, however, the radical orbital q is an electron-accepting orbital (A) for the a-spin electron (rather than the donating orbital in triplet). Thus, there is an additional path of a-spin electron delocalization, - G- T - Tj- T - or... 

Blancafort L (2007) Energetics of cytosine singlet excited-state decay paths — A difficult case for CASSCF and CASPT2. Photochem Photobiol 83 603-610... 

Blancafort L, Migani A (2007) Water effect on the excited-state decay paths of singlet excited cytosine. J Photochem Photobiol A 190 283-289... 

The alkylation of 15 (path b, Scheme 15)40 has been performed according to conventional procedures using lithium or Grignard reagents. The preliminary isolation of 15 is not essential thus, the synthesis of the zirconium alkyl or aryl derivatives can be carried out in situ directly from 3 (path a, Scheme 15). The h NMR spectra of 71-74 all imply C2V symmetry, as revealed by the CH2 (one pair of doublets), Bu (two singlets), and MeO (one singlet) patterns. All the alkyl derivatives 71-73 are thermally stable up to 80°C in CgDg. The aryl derivative... 

Let us turn now to a reaction surface that has been studied in more detail, that is, the surface for the addition of methylene to ethylene (11). Figure 5 shows the various approaches of the two fragments, b) is the most symmetric approach, but the correlation diagram shows that the reaction is symmetry-forbidden for the ground configuration singlet methylene along this path. In Fig. 5 c the levels have been classified as symmetric or antisymmetric with respect to the xz plane, which is the relevant symmetry element for use of the symmetry conservation rales. 

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