Tertiary amines with trans-stilbene

Photoinduced intramolecular interaction of t-S and tertiary amine moieties linked with a polymethylene chain has also been studied24. The photoexcitation of fraws-stilbene in which a tertiary amine is attached to the ortho position with a (CH2)i-3 linker leads to fluorescent exciplexes by intramolecular electron transfer, and results in no more than trans-cis isomerization. The failure to give adducts from the intramolecular exciplexes could arise from the unfavourable exciplex geometry to undergo the necessary bond formation. 

FIGURE 11. Reaction of singlet trans-stilbene (TS) with tertiary amines (A) in polar solvent. From ref. (116c) with permission of the American Chemical Society. 

As discussed earlier, deprotonation of a-carbon forms a major reaction pathway for the disappearance of the amine radical cation. Studies of photoinduced electron-transfer reactions of tertiary amines by Lewis [7, 11] and by Mariano [5, 10] have contributed significantly towards our understanding of the factors that control this process. Lewis and coworkers used product-distribution ratios of stilbene-amine adducts to elucidate the stereoelectronic effects involved in the deprotonation process [5, 10, 121, 122]. In non-polar solvents, the singlet excited state of tran -stilbene forms non-reactive but fluorescent exciplexes with simple trialkylamines. Increasing solvent polarity brings about a decrease in the fluorescence intensity and an increase in adduct formation. For non-symmetrically substituted tertiary amines two types of stilbene-amine adduct can be formed, as is shown in Scheme 9, depending on whether the aminoalkyl radical adding to the stilbene radical is formed by de-... 

With singlet excited trans-stilbene (151) and tertiary alkyl amines only products characteristic for radical coupling are observed (Lewis et al., 1982). 

Data on photophysics and photochemistry of intramolecular stilbene-amine exciplexes and reactions have been reported [34]. The obtained data indicated that the photophysical and photochemical behavior of a series of traws-(aminoalkyl) stilbenes in which a primary, secondary, or tertiary amine is appended to the stUbene ortho position with a Me, Et, or Pr linker. The tertiary (aminoalkyl) stilbenes formed fluorescent exciplexes and underwent trans cis isomerization but failed to undergo intramolecular N—H addition. The secondary (aminoalkyl)stilbenes did not form fluorescent exciplexes but underwent the addition to the stilbene double bond. Intramolecular reactions were highly selective, providing an efficient method for the synthesis oftetrahydrobenzazepines. Direct irradiation of the primary (aminoalkyl) stilbenes resulted only in trans-cis isomerization, while irradiation in the presence of the electron acceptor p-dicyanobenzene resulted in regioselective intramolecular N—H addition to the stilbene double bond. 

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