The photochemistry of indenyl alcohols and esters: Substituent effects on the competition between ion- and radical-derived products

The photochemistry of the indenyl acetates 1 and pivalates 2, substituted with X = H, 5-CH3O, and 6-CH3O, have been examined in both methanol and cyclohexane. The precursor alcohols 3 were also found to be photoreactive. Although only radical-derived products were obtained in cyclohexane, both ion- and radical-derived products were formed in methanol. The absence of significant fluorescence emission from any of the substrates 1, 2, and 3 indicates that the excited singlet states are highly reactive. A mechanism is proposed for the ion-derived products that proceeds through direct heterolytic cleavage to give an indenyl cation – carboxylate anion pair. The indenyl cations generated are anti-aromatic in the ground state and their efficient generation by this photochemical solvolysis is in sharp contrast to the very low reactivity of related ground-state substrates. For the pivalate esters 2, an excited-state migratory decarboxylation is proposed for the formation of tert-butyl derived products.Key words: ester photochemistry, indenyl cations, indenyl radicals.