ABSTRACT The generation of acylnitrenes, mainly benzoylnitrene, via direct and sensitized photolysis is reviewed. A main topic is the sensitization of the benzoyl azide decomposition by photoinduced electron transfer. Cycloaddition reactions with various π-bonds have shown that five membered heterocycles were formed with electron rich olefins without the formation of an intermediate aziridine ring. Analogous this is true also for the cycloaddition reactions with carbonyl groups. Based on quantum mechanical calculations a two step mechanism is proposed. Applications of aroylnitrenes for labeling of polymers and biologic materials are shortly discussed.
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