Associated electron and proton transfer between Acridine and Triethylamine in AOT reverse micelles probed by laser flash photolysis with magnetic field

2-Phenylphenol derivatives strategically substituted with a hydroxyadamantyl substituent were synthesized and their photochemical reactivity was investigated. Derivatives 9 and 10 undergo competitive excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) from the phenol to the carbon atom of the adjacent phenyl ring and formal ESPT from the phenol to the hydroxyl group coupled with dehydration. These two processes (both via S1) give rise to two classes of quinone methides (QMs) that revert to starting material or react with nucleophiles, respectively. ESIPT to carbon atoms was studied by performing photolyses in the presence of D2O, whereupon deuterium incorporation to the adjacent phenyl ring was observed ([Formula: see text] = 0.1–0.2). The competing formal ESPT and dehydration takes place with quantum yields that are an order of magnitude lower and was studied by isolation of photomethanolysis products. Derivative 8 did not undergo ESIPT to carbon atom. Owing to the presence of an intramolecular H bond, an efficient ESIPT from the phenol to the hydroxyl group coupled with dehydration gives a QM that efficiently undergoes electrocyclization (overall [Formula: see text] = 0.33), to give chroman 16. In addition, spiro[adamantane-2,9′-(4′-hydroxy)fluorene] (12) undergoes ESIPT, unlike the previously reported unreactive parent 2-hydroxyfluorene. The reactive singlet excited states of the prepared biphenyl and fluorene molecules were characterized by fluorescence spectroscopy, whereas laser flash photolysis (LFP) was performed to characterize the longer lived QM intermediates.

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Time-Resolved Study of Light-Induced Ground State Proton Transfer from Acid Medium to 4-Nitrophenolate

10.26434/chemrxiv.12949274.v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Leandro Scorsin ◽

Leticia Martins ◽

Haidi Fiedler ◽

Faruk Nome ◽

RENE NOME

Keyword(s):

Acetic Acid ◽

Proton Transfer ◽

Electronic State ◽

Ground State ◽

Flash Photolysis ◽

Laser Flash Photolysis ◽

Laser Flash ◽

Proton Transfer Reaction ◽

Ground Electronic State ◽

Experimental Conditions

In the present work, we study the transient laser-induced formation of 4-nitrophenolate (4-NPO-) in the ground electronic state and subsequent proton transfer reaction with acetic acid and water with numerical calculations and laser flash photolysis. We employ the Debye-Smoluchowski spherically-symmetric diffusion model of photoacid proton transfer to determine experimental conditions for studying thermally activated chemical reactions in the ground electronic state. Numerically calculated protonation and deprotonation probabilities for 4-NPO- and 4-nitrophenol (4-NPOH) in both ground and excited states showed the feasibility of efficiently producing the ground state anion in the photoacid cycle. We performed laser flash photolysis measurements of 4-NPOH to characterize the photo-initiated ground state protonation and deprotonation rate constants of 4-NPO-/4-NPOH as a function of acetic acid, pH, temperature and viscosity. Overall, the work presented here shows a simple way to study fast competing bimolecular proton transfer reactions in non-equilibrium conditions in the ground electronic state (GSPT).

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