The solution phase photochemistry of benzobarrelene derivatives (8) and (11), containing electron-donating and electron-withdrawing substituents, has been studied. The structures of the photoproducts (16)/(20) and (17)/(21) indicate clearly that vinyl-vinyl nitrile (aldehyde) bridging is not operating. The formation of these products is discussed in terms of the stabilizing effect of the substituents on the radical and the destabilizing effect on the formation of the cyclopropane ring.
It is known that 7-cyanobenzocyclooctatetraene (COT 2) is a product of the thermolysis and direct photolysis of 7- and 6-cyano-2,3-benzobicyclo[4.2.0]octa-2,4,7-triene (1 and 5), though the mechanisms of these rearrangements have not been reported. In the present study experiments have been carried out using the deuterium-labelled trienes 1a (93%-d1 at C-6) and 5a (93%-d1 at C-8), which were formed from 2π + 2π photo-closure (direct irradiation) of COT 2a labelled at C-8. The results reveal that whereas the thermolysis of 1a and 5a and the direct irradiation of 5a reform COT 2a, probably via cleavage of the strained cyclobutene C-1C-6 bond, the direct irradiation of triene 1a gives a differently labelled COT product, containing the deuterium exclusively at C-9. The mechanism proposed for the latter phototransformation is a modification of the Zimmerman di-π-methane rearrangement.Key words: mechanisms, rearrangements, photochemistry, di-π-methane rearrangement.