1114-06-3Relevant articles and documents
Conrotatory photochemical ring opening of alkylcyclobutenes in solution. A test of the hot ground-state mechanism
Cook,Leigh,Walsh
, p. 5188 - 5193 (2001)
Quantum yields for photochemical ring opening of six alkylcyclobutenes have been measured in hexane solution using 228-nm excitation, which selectively populates the lowest π,R(3s) excited singlet states of these molecules and has been shown previously to lead to ring opening with clean conrotatory stereochemistry. The compounds studied in this work - 1,2-dimethylcyclobutene (1), cis- and trans-1,2,3,4-tetramethylcyclobutene (cis- and trans-5), hexamethylcyclobutene (8), and cis- and trans-tricyclo[6.4.0.02,7]dodec-12-ene (cis- and trans-9) - were selected so as to span a broad range in molecular weight and as broad a range as possible in Arrhenius parameters for thermal (ground-state) ring opening. RRKM calculations have been carried out to provide estimates of the rate constants for ground-state ring opening of each of the compounds over a range of thermal energies from 20 00O to 49 000 cm-1. These have been used to estimate upper limits for the quantum yields of ring opening via a hot ground-state mechanism, assuming a value of kdeact = 1011 s-1 for the rate constant for collisional deactivation by the solvent, that internal conversion to the ground state from the lowest Rydberg state occurs with close to unit efficiency, and that ergodic behavior is followed. The calculated quantum yields are significantly lower than the experimental values in all cases but one (1). This suggests that the Rydberg-derived ring opening of alkylcyclobutenes is a true excited-state process and rules out the hot ground-state mechanism for the reaction.
Cyclobutene photochemistry. Steric effects on the photochemical ring opening of alkylcyclobutenes
Leigh, William J.,Postigo, J. Alberto
, p. 1688 - 1694 (2007/10/02)
Quantum yields for photochemical ring opening and cycloreversion in hydrocarbon solution have been determined for the direct photolysis (214 nm) of six 1,2-dimethylcyclobutene derivatives which contain methyl groups at C3, and C4 in numbers varying from zero to four. As the hydrogens on C3/C4 of the parent compound (1,2-dimethylcyclobutene) are replaced with increasing numbers of methyl groups, the total quantum yield for ring opening increases to a maximum of ～0.3 and then decreases with further methyl substitution. The quantum yields for ring opening (φtotal) of hexamethylcyclobutene and 1,2-dimethylcyclobutene are nearly the same, and the lowest in the series. The maximum occurs with trans-1,2,3,4-tetramethylcyclobutene; φtotal for the cis-isomer is significantly lower, but both yield an approximate 1:1 mixture of formally allowed and forbidden diene isomers. A similar trend is observed in the relative quantum yields for ring opening and cycloreversion throughout the series. The results are interpreted in terms of a combination of bond strength and steric effects on the efficiency of the ring-opening process. Increasing methyl substitution causes an increase in φtotal through the first three members of the series owing to progressive weakening of the C3-C4 bond. Compounds containing cis-dimethyl substitution exhibit substantially reduced quantum yields for ring opening, relative to what would be expected based on bond strength effects alone. This is proposed to be due to steric effects on the efficiency of the process, suggesting that the initial stages of the photochemical ring opening of cyclobutene involve disrotatory motions on the excited singlet state potential energy surface.
STUDIES ON THE CHEMISTRY OF DIOLS AND CYCLIC ETHERS-52. MECHANISM AND STEREOCHEMISTRY OF DEHYDRATION OF OXOLANES TO DIENES
Molnar, Arpad,Bartok, Mihaly
, p. 131 - 142 (2007/10/02)
On γ-Al2O3, BPO4 and NaX zeolite, the dehydration of (+/-)-2,2,3,4,5,5-hexamethyloxolane (2) in the vapour phase leads to the formation of 2,3,4,5-tetramethyl-1,5-hexadiene (8) in a slow process, while meso-2,2,3,4,5,5-hexamethyloxolane (3) is converted to 2,3,4,5-tetramethyl-2,4-hexadiene (7) with high selectivity in a fast reaction.These differences in reaction rate and selectivity indicate that the dehydration of 2 takes place by an E2 mechanism.In contrast, the steric strain in 3 results in ring opening by an E1 mechanism.These conclusions are supported by the nonselective transformations of 2,2,5,5-tetramethyloxolane (1) and 2,2,6,6-tetramethyloxane (4), and the dehydration of 1, 2 and 3 in the presence of formic acid in the liquid phase.The experimental observation prove that both the reactivity and the reaction directions in the dehydration of stereoisomeric oxolanes are determined by steric factors.
