Triplet diradicals, reaction with

The reaction is stereospecific for at least some aliphatic ketones but not for aromatic carbonyls.197 This result suggests that the reactive excited state is a singlet for aliphatics and a triplets for aromatics. With aromatic ketones, the regioselectivity of addition can usually be predicted on the basis of formation of the more stable of the two possible diradical intermediates obtained by bond formation between oxygen and the alkene.198... 

Addition reactions with alkenes to form cyclopropanes are the most studied reactions of carbenes, both from the point of view of understanding mechanisms and for synthetic applications. A concerted mechanism is possible for singlet carbenes. As a result, the stereochemistry present in the alkene is retained in the cyclopropane. With triplet carbenes, an intermediate 1,3-diradical is involved. Closure to cyclopropane requires spin inversion. The rate of spin inversion is slow relative to rotation about single bonds, so mixtures of the two possible stereoisomers are obtained from either alkene stereoisomer. 

The [2 + 2] photocycloaddition reaction of enones with allenes was first reported in 1966. A diradical intermediate is formed from a triplet enone via an exciplex. The triplet diradical cyclizes to the product after spin inversion to the singlet state [31,32]. 

In summary, although the computed structural details of the reaction profile depend on the method used for calculations, the general salient mechanistic conclusion is that the dioxetane thermolysis starts with the 0—0 bond rupture to generate the 0C(H2)—C(H2)0 triplet diradical, which is followed by C—C bond cleavage to afford the final ketone products one of them is formed preferentially in its triplet excited state. Since even simple 1,2-dioxetanes still present a computational challenge to resolve the controversial thermolysis mechanism, the theoretical elucidation of complex dioxetanes constitutes to date a formidable task. 

The thermal decomposition of 8 in tetrachloroethene at 134 C gave a chromatographically separable mixture of cyclobutane 9 and 1,8-divinylnaphthalene 10 in 7 1 ratio. Although several experiments have been carried out to identify the spin multiplicity of the intermediate diradical, the results were inconclusive.17 A recent report stated that while triplet-sensitized photolysis resulted in predominant denitrogenation, laser/liquid jet photochemical reaction also gave cyclopentenes by 1,2-hydrogen shift.18 Indications are that the amounts of cyclopentenes increase with increasing lifetime of the intermediary 1,3-cyclopentadiyl triplet diradical.18... 

Triplet oxygen is a stable and surprisingly unreactive electrophilic diradical. Its reactions with organic compounds (autoxidation) include abstraction of hydrogen atoms or single electrons and addition to reactive C-C double bonds (Scheme 3.14). 

The lack of reactivity of the aryloxazolinones (65) in photocycloaddition to many of the olefins other than 1,1-dimethoxyethene and furan probably results from efficient decay of E2 or D. Exciplex E2 and diradical D are proposed as intermediates in these cases for several reasons. Exciplex formation is most likely dependent on olefin ionization potential, and the ionization potential of many of the un-reactive olefins are intermediate between the ionization potential of furan and 1,1-dimethoxyethene as determined from the maxima of tetracynoethylene olefin charge transfer bands60 66,67. Although ds-2-butene does not form a cycloadduct with 2-phenyl-2-oxazolin-4-one (65a), ds-2-butene is isomerized to rram-2-butene during the irradiation52. Cis-trans isomerization is expected from decay of a triplet diradical. Decay of the exciplex and diradical intermediates in competition with reaction presumably results from steric hindrance from the aryl substituent. The olefins which give cycloadducts, furan and 1,1-dimethoxyethene, are expected to produce low steric hindrance with the aryl substituent in an exciplex or diradical. 

Abe, M., Taniguchi, K., and Hayashi, T. (2007) Exo-selective formation of bicydic oxetanes in the photocydo-addition reaction of carbonyl compounds with vinylene carbonate the important role of intermediary triplet diradicals... 

The mechanism of 4-chloroaniline photochemistry was independently studied by Guizzardi et al. in organic solvents they reached very similar conclusions [57]. These authors pointed out that the aminophenyl cation has a triplet-diradical character which fully explains its reactivity in organic solvents [57]. However, in aqueous solutions the cation reacted with hydroxyl ions with a rate constant of 3.1 x 1010 M s, which can only be interpreted as a deprotonation reaction [55]. The carbene 4-iminocyclohexa-2,5-dienylidene thus must exist in aqueous solutions, even though its properties have not yet been characterized. This is partly due to an expected low extinction coefficient, similar to the neutral anilino radical [55]. Following these arguments, the primary pathways of 4-chloroaniline photolysis in polar solvents may be pictured as shown in Scheme 7. 

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