Unusual photoreaction of triquinacene within self-assembled hosts.
Triquinacene is a concave tricyclic hydrocarbon with diverse photoreactivity. In the cavity of an electron-accepting molecular host, triquinacene was specifically photooxidized at the peripheral allylic position into an alcohol, 1-hydroxytriquinacene, via guest-to-host electron transfer. The unusual reactivity stems from the extremely electron-deficient triazine panel ligand of the host cage, which allows the cage to function as a good electron acceptor. Thus, self-assembled coordination cages can serve not only as molecular-sized reaction vessels but also function electronically as redox media. Dissolved molecular oxygen is indispensable for the photoreaction and immediately traps a photogenerated radical.
Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
Takashi
T
Murase
Yuki
Y
Nishijima
Makoto
M
Fujita