New Photochromic α-Methylchalcones Are Highly Photostable, Even under Singlet Oxygen Conditions: Breaking the α-Methyl Michael-System Reactivity by Reversible Peroxybiradical Formation

The α-methylated chalcones 7a–7e behave as P-type photochromic substances with photo-stationary states (PSS) as high as 15:85 when irradiated at 350 nm. These compounds are easily accessible in pure E-configuration by aldol condensation or by oxidative coupling/elimination. The α-methyl groups make these compounds potentially reactive with singlet oxygen following the gem-rule that predicts 1O2 regioselectivity. Even after long irradiations times in the presence of the singlet oxygen sensitizer tetraphenylporphyrin (TPP) and oxygen, however, no oxygenation products were detected. Under these conditions, all substrates were converted into 9:1 E/Z-mixtures despite the use of low-energy light that does not allow direct or sensitized excitation of the substrates 7. Additionally, chalcone 7a reduced the singlet oxygen reactivity of the tiglic ketone 3a by about a factor of two, indicating substantial physical quenching of singlet oxygen by the α-methylated chalcones 7a–7e. Thus, a singlet oxygen-induced E/Z-isomerization involving 1,2-dioxatetra-methylene biradicals that leads to triplet oxygen and thermodynamic E/Z-mixtures is postulated and supported by quantum chemical (DFT)-calculations.