Orbital-overlap control of the reactivity of a bicyclic 1-hydroxy-1,4-biradical.
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Journal Article↗
Biomedical subjects
Wujiong Xia
Publications and source records attributed to Wujiong Xia.
Photochemistry of 1-isopropylcycloalkyl aryl ketones: ring size effects, medium effects, and asymmetric induction.
[reaction: see text] The n = 0, 1, and 2 ketones shown above undergo Yang photocyclization in solution, but only the n = 1 analogues react this way in the solid state. Based on X-ray crystallography, these differences in reactivity are attributed to an unusually large distance for 1,4-hydroxybiradical cyclization in the solid state for the n = 0 and 2 ring systems, which leads to predominant reverse hydrogen transfer (rht). Enantiomeric excesses of up to 99% can be achieved in the case of the n = 1 system through the use of the solid-state ionic chiral auxiliary method of asymmetric synthesis.
Journal Article↗
Asymmetric synthesis of dihydrofurans via a formal retro-Claisen photorearrangement.
Solution-phase irradiation of a series of syn-7-benzoylnorbornene derivatives is shown to lead to cis-fused dihydrofuran derivatives in low quantum but excellent chemical yields in what is formally a retro-Claisen rearrangement. In analogy to the well-known Paterno-Buchi reaction, the first step of the rearrangement is suggested to involve (n,pi)(3)-mediated addition of the carbonyl oxygen to the norbornene double bond, producing a triplet 1,4-biradical. This intermediate, rather than closing to the oxetane, undergoes cleavage accompanied by intersystem crossing to form the dihydrofuran. To determine whether the retro-Claisen photorearrangement could be carried out enantioselectively, the 7-benzoylnorbornene reactant was equipped with a para-carboxylic acid substituent to which a series of optically pure amines was attached ionically via salt bridges. Irradiation of these salts in the crystalline state followed by diazomethane workup (the solid-state ionic chiral auxiliary method) was shown to afford the corresponding dihydrofuran in optical yields as high as 93% at 95% conversion. X-ray crystallography revealed that the enantioselectivity arises from crystallization of the reactant in a conformation in which the carbonyl oxygen is more favorably oriented for bond formation to one end of the norbornene double bond than the other, thus leading to a predominance of a single enantiomer.
Crystallography, X-Ray↗
1,4-hydroxybiradical behavior revealed through crystal structure-solid-state reactivity correlations.
Structure-reactivity correlations for triplet 1,4-hydroxybiradicals in solution are made difficult by the presence of multiple reactive conformers and the possibility of conformation-dependent intersystem crossing. These problems can be overcome by working in the crystalline state, where the conformations of the 1,4-hydroxybiradicals are fixed and determinable by X-ray crystallography of the parent ketones, assuming that hydrogen atom abstraction occurs with little or no change in conformation. This approach is applied to 15 bi- and tricyclic ketones designed to have slightly different biradical conformations, so that the effect of small and incremental changes in geometry on biradical behavior can be tested. The results indicate that, while geometry does have a strong influence on 1,4-hydroxybiradical partitioning between cyclization, cleavage, and reverse hydrogen transfer, a full understanding of the results requires that the strain involved in forming the cyclization products be taken into account.
Journal Article↗