title: Mechanism of an alcohol-trapping reaction in the direct and benzophenone-sensitized photodenitrogenation of a spiroepoxy-substituted azoalkane: solvent effects and stereochemical deuterium labeling.
abstract: The spin-state-dependent reactivity, singlet versus triplet, of the 2-spiroepoxy-1,3-cyclopentane-1,3-diyl DR2 has been assessed through alcohol-trapping reactions for which the effect of solvent acidity on the product distribution of the alcohol trapping products 2 versus 3 + 4 and stereochemical deuterium-labeling studies have been performed. The proposed mechanism for the solvent effect on the product ratio (2/3 + 4) reveals the importance of the hydrogen-bonded intermediates I1 and I2 in the trapping reactions; the stereochemical deuterium-labeling results clarify the dipole structure trapped by the alcohol. The dipoles DP1 and DP2, in which the configuration between the epoxide oxygen and the deuterium atoms is retained, are inferred for the direct photodenitrogenation reactions (singlet state), whereas for the benzophenone-sensitized photoreactions (triplet state), after ISC, the ring-opened dipole DP3 is implied as the intermediate that is trapped by the alcohol.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Chemistry & Frontier Research Center (HANDAI FRC), Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University (HANDAI), Suita, 565-0871 Osaka, Japan. abe@ap.chem.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Manabu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.forename: Waldemar
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Adam
authors.forename: Takafumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Minamoto
authors.forename: Yasunori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ino
authors.forename: Masatomo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nojima