Unsaturated ketones, photochemical reactions

Cyclic a,) -unsaturated ketones present a rich array of photochemical reactions, some of which are of considerable synthetic value (see Section 6.4 of Part B). For cyclohex-enones, two prominent reactions are the di-rr-methane rearrangement (path A) and the lumiketone rearrangement (path B). 

As is clear from the preceding examples, there are a variety of overall reactions that can be initiated by photolysis of ketones. The course of photochemical reactions of ketones is veiy dependent on the structure of the reactant. Despite the variety of overall processes that can be observed, the number of individual steps involved is limited. For ketones, the most important are inter- and intramolecular hydrogen abstraction, cleavage a to the carbonyl group, and substituent migration to the -carbon atom of a,/S-unsaturated ketones. Reexamination of the mechanisms illustrated in this section will reveal that most of the reactions of carbonyl compounds that have been described involve combinations of these fundamental processes. The final products usually result from rebonding of reactive intermediates generated by these steps. 

The photochemical addition of simple olefins to a,j -unsaturated ketones is a reaction of great current interest. The steroidal A -20-ketone system is especially prone to cycloaddition under mild conditions. Sunder-Plassmann et irradiated 3j5-acetoxypregna-5,16-dien-20-one (67) in the presence... 

Photocycloaddition Reactions ofEnones. Cyclic a,(3-unsaturated ketones are another class of molecules that undergo photochemical cycloadditions.188 The reactive... 

The enone system itself is usually part of a five- or six membered ring, although acyclic a,(3-unsaturated ketones and enols of P-diketones are also found to undergo cycloadditions under certain conditions. For seven- and higher membered rings the primary photochemical event is Z—E isomerization around the C—C double bond, the E-isomer then eventually undergoing further thermal reactions. 

The cyclobutanone 105, on thermolysis at 190°C, undergoes a retro-ene reaction yielding the crystalline 0,y-unsaturated ketone 115. This product in the solid regenerates 105 photochemically, in almost quantitative yield, whereas in solution the diketone 116 is the exclusive photoproduct. The ketone 115 is found in the solid to have the conformation 115a, a conformation that results, presumably, from the requirement for the bulky methyl at C-7 to adopt the pseudo-equatorial rather than the pseudoaxial position. This molecule in fact has a shape... 

Acyclic a,jS-unsaturated ketones do not provide much photochemistry, except for facile geometric isomerization about the double bond. Although some also isomerize to /3,y-unsaturated ketones, others, such as mesityl oxide, apparently undergo no net reaction upon absorption of irradiation. Their low reactivity might result from a rapid relaxation to an appreciably more twisted geometry in their triplet states than can be obtained in the cyclic enones. Below are some examples of typical photochemical behavior.426,427... 

Another important class of cycloaddition reactions is the formation of oxetane rings between a photoexcited carbonyl compound and an unsaturated molecule. These reactions also occur probably through an exciplex although these exciplexes are non-fluorescent as they are formed from the triplet state of the ketone or aldehyde. The formation of the four-membered oxetane ring is an interesting example of a typical photochemical reaction... 

The photochemical reactions of three a/3-unsaturated cyclic ketones have been reported. In these cases, it appears that the reaction is that of the olefinic group although the wavelength of the incident radiation is at the ultraviolet absorption of the carbonyl group. Photolysis of 2-cyclo-pentenone (16), carvone (XXXV) (7,12) and y-tropolone methyl ether... 

Photochemical isomerization of a,/3-unsaturated ketones to 0,7-un-saturated ketones via the enol appears to be a general reaction. An equilibrium mixture of 4,5,5-trimethyl-3-hexen-2-one (Formula 166) and its d,7-unsaturated isomer (Formula 167) is converted by irradiation in a quartz vessel to the pure /3,7-unsaturated ketone (Formula 167) (66). 

The photochemical rearrangements of saturated ketones are initiated by n - ir excitation of the carbonyl group. It is interesting to contrast the photochemical rearrangements of conjugated unsaturated ketones (which are also initiated by n — ir excitation) with the reactions of saturated ketones. 

Four-membered rings can be synthesised by [2 + 2] cycloadditions. However, thermal [2 + 2] cycloadditions occur only with difficulty they are not concerted but involve diradicals. Photochemical [2 + 2] reactions are common and although some of these may occur by a stepwise mechanism many are concerted. An example of a [2 + 2] reaction is the photodimerisation of cyclopent-2-enone. This compound, as the neat liquid, or in a variety of solvents, on irradiation with light of wavelength greater than 300 nm (the n - n excited state is involved) is converted to a mixture of the head-to-head (48) and head-to-tail (49) dimers, both having the cis,anti,cis stereochemistry as shown. It is believed that the reaction proceeds by attack of an n - n triplet excited species on a ground state molecule of the unsaturated ketone (Section 2.17.5, p. 106). In the reaction described (Expt 7.24) the cyclopent-2-enone is irradiated in methanol and the head-to-tail dimer further reacts with the solvent to form the di-acetal which conveniently crystallises from the reaction medium as the irradiation proceeds the other dimer (the minor product under these conditions) remains in solution. The di-acetal is converted to the diketone by treatment with the two-phase dilute hydrochloric acid-dichloromethane system. 

Photochemical reactions provide a classical access to four-membered ring compounds that generate major interest in organic synthesis, notably as intermediates in multistep syntheses. The [2 + 2] photocycloaddition of a,(3-unsaturated carbonyl and carboxyl compounds with alkenes and [2 + 2] photocydoaddition of ketones with alkenes (the Paterno-Buchi reaction) are discussed in Chapters 6 and 7, respectively. Yet, aside from these transformations, a variety of further reactions provides a systematic access to four-membered rings that possess a wide structural variation. Four-membered ring compounds may also be created via less-systematic photochemical transformations, many of which can be carried out without additional chemical activation. As a consequence, such transformations are rendered not only very convenient but also extremely interesting within the context of green chemistry. ... 

The photochemistry of o< -unsaturated ketones has attracted much attention and is still a field fiettd of current interest. /Numerous examples of such photochemical transformations are well-documented for cyclic enones and dienones, including both cycloaddition reactions and rearrangements. For example, cyclopentenones 1 and 2 readily rearrange to... 

A further study of photochemical reactions of /3-y-unsaturated ketones has produced results including those illustrated in Scheme 10.243... 

Oxa-di-TT-methane rearrangement A photochemical reaction of a P,y-unsaturated ketone to form a saturated a-cyclopropyl ketone. The rearrangement formally amounts to a 1,2-acyl shift and bond formation between the former a and y carbon atoms. 

Palladium-catalyzed cyclization of the oxime derivative 47 provided a good yield of the pyrrole 48 (Equation 9) <1999CL45>. Similar reactions have been observed in connection with cyclization studies of related ketone trimethylhydrazonium salts <2005H(65)273>. Photochemical radical cyclization of 7,5-unsaturated ketone oximes has been reported to produce 1-pyrrolines <2005TL2373>. Similar 0-acetyloximes may also be annulated to 1-pyrrolines by treatment with acetic acid in the presence of 1,4-cyclohexadiene and naphthalene-l,5-diol, possibly proceeding via a radical mechanism <2002CL144>. 

The excited states involved in the mechanisms of the photochemical transformations of the 2-alkylidenecyclo-butanones were elucidated without special difficulty (vide supra). These a, B-unsaturated ketones undergo only one of the reactions characteristic of cyclobutanones (i.e., ring expansion). In addition, the triplet energy of the enone chromophore is low enough that this excited state may be efficiently and selectively populated by standard carbonyl triplet sensitizers (e.g., acetophenone, xanthone, and benzophenone), thereby demonstrating that ring expansion occurs via the 2-alkylidenecyclobutanone state, while the isomerization process (i.e., [81]J[82]) occurs via T. ... 

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