K. Schaffner
1976
Citations
0
Influential Citations
39
Citations
Journal
Tetrahedron
Abstract
The photochemistry of 1-acyl-2-cyclopentenes varies with the nature of the acyl group. On direct irradiation the aldehyde eliminates carbon monoxide in the singlet excited state, and the aroyl compounds cleave to allyl-aroyl radical pairs both from the singlet and triplet states. In competition to α-cleavage the methyl ketones isomerize in an allylic 1,3-acetyl shift. The lowest-lying reactive triplet of these methyl ketones, characterized as a 3(π, π*) state in the case of the 3-phenyl homologue, undergo oxadi-π-methane rearrangement to a mixture of endo- and exo-5-acetylbicyclo[2.1.0]pentanes. The ground state-acetylbicyclopentanes react in two ways at elevated temperatures: endo-exo stereomutation by selective cleavage of the central cyclopropane bond and reclosure of the 1,3-cyclopentane diradical intermediate, and a rearrangement of the endo isomer to 1-acetyl-2-cyclopentenes on a separate potential energy surface involving a formal 1,2-acetyl shift. The unusually large negative entropy of activation for this latter reaction is suggestive of a concerted electrocyclic process in which the electrons of the internal cyclopropane and the C(5)-acetyl bonds participate.