Frances L. Cozens, V. Kanagasabapathy, R. McCLELLAND
Dec 5, 1999
Citations
0
Influential Citations
41
Citations
Journal
Canadian Journal of Chemistry
Abstract
Benzyl (4-MeO, 4-Me, and 4-methoxy-1-naphthylmethyl), phenethyl (4-Me2N, 4-MeO, 3,4-(MeO)2, 4-Me, 3-Me, 4-F, 3-MeO, 2,6-Me2, parent, and 4-methoxy-1-naphthylethyl) and cumyl (4-Me2N, 4-MeO, 4-Me, parent) cations have been studied by laser flash photolysis (LFP) in 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (TFE) and 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP). In most cases styrene or α-methylstyrene precursors were employed for the phenethyl and cumyl ions, the intermediate being obtained by solvent protonation of the excited state. Benzyl cations were generated by photoheterolysis of trimethylammonium and chloride precursors. While a 4-MeO substituent provides sufficient stabilization to permit observation of cations in TFE, cations with less stabilizing substituents usually require the less nucleophilic HFIP. Even in this solvent, the parent benzyl cation is too short-lived (lifetime <20 ns) to be observed. When generated in HFIP, phenethyl cations can be seen to react with unphotolyzed styrene, giving rise to dimer cations ...