title: Photochemical Pinacol Rearrangement.
abstract: Irradiation of 9,9'-bifluorene-9,9'-diol (1) gave 9-fluorenone and spiro[9H-fluorene-9,9'(10'-H)-phenanthren]-10'-one (4), the latter arising from a pinacol rearrangement. The distribution of fluorenone and ketone 4 was solvent dependent with the latter being the major product in trifluoroethanol, a solvent known to stabilize carbocation intermediates. Laser flash photolysis of diol 1 in 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol or hexafluoro-2-propanol showed two transients absorbing at 350 and 505 nm with a weak band at 700 nm. The latter two peaks are assigned to the corresponding substituted 9-fluorenyl cation (5) formed from photoheterolysis of diol 1. Comparison of the decay kinetics between cation 5 and other 9-fluorenyl cations, the parent 9-fluorenyl and 9-phenyl-9-fluorenyl cations, showed that the decay of 5 was relatively insensitive to the nature of the solvent as compared to the latter two carbocations suggesting that unimolecular rearrangement in 5 competes with nucleophilic quenching.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, York University, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada, and Steacie Institute for Molecular Science, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R6, Canada.
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hoang
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gadosy
authors.forename: Hedieh
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ghazi
authors.forename: Dong-Feng
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: Alan C.
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Hopkinson
authors.forename: Linda J.
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Johnston
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lee-Ruff