Infrared Photochemistry of Bicyclopropyl

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/ja00345a027

The decomposition of bicyclopropyl (C6H10) induced by multiphoton absorption from an infrared laser has been investigated.The reaction produces a complex product mixture consisting mainly of C6H10 isomers.A mechanism is proposed that can rationalize all of the existing infrared photochemical and thermal data on the basis of a single primary step, C-C bond cleavage to a 1,3-biradical.The product mixture results from competitive decay channels of the biradical and successive reactions of the ''hot'' products.This system provides a striking example of the influence of ''hot molecule effects'' on the product distributions in infrared multiphoton dissociation.