Photochemistry of N-(pyrimidin-2-one-4-yl)pyridinium derivatives. The ring contraction of pyrimidinone into imidazolinone

Article abstract of DOI:10.1139/v95-270

Photochemical reactions (λ > 300 nm) of N-(1-methylpyrimidin-2-one)- and N-(1,5-dimethyl-pyrimidin-2-one)pyridinium chlorides were studied in deoxygenated aqueous solution at various pH's. Only the former compound was found to be reactive under these conditions to give pyrimidine ring contraction photoproducts 1-methyl-4-imidazolin-2-one and 1-methyl-4-imidazolin-2-one-5-carboxyaldehyde, with pH-dependent chemical yields. The photochemical pyrimidine ring contraction reaction does not occur for other photochemically reactive pyrimidin-2-ones bearing 3-methylimidazolium-1,1,2,4-triazol-1-yl, or imidazol-1-yl as substituents at the C-4 position. The suggested mechanism of the reaction involves the addition of water to the pyrimidinone part of the N-(1-methylpyrimidin-2-one)pyridinium salt in the excited triplet state as the primary photochemical step. Addition of alcohol to the pyridinium ring was found to be the major reaction under irradiation of N-(1-methylpyrimidin-2-one-4-yl)pyridinium chloride in methanol.