Photochemical pinacol rearrangements of unsymmetrical diols.

The photochemical pinacol reaction of a series of nonsymmetrical 9-fluorenyl-substituted vic-diols was investigated and compared with their acid-catalyzed thermal reaction. Unlike the thermal reaction, the radiation-induced processes involve only fluorenyl cations, as is reflected in differences of product distribution between the two reactions. From the product studies, substituent migratory aptitudes are reversed in the photochemical process, suggesting that kinetic control takes place under neutral conditions unlike the acid-catalyzed thermal reactions.

Amination of pyridylketenes: experimental and computational studies of strong amide enol stabilization by the 2-pyridyl group.

Laser flash photolyses of 2-, 3-, and 4-diazoacetylpyridines 8 give the corresponding pyridylketenes 7 formed by Wolff rearrangements, as observed by time-resolved infrared spectroscopy, with ketenyl absorptions at 2127, 2125, and 2128 cm(-1), respectively. Photolysis of 2-, 3-, and 4-8 in CH(3)CN containing n-BuNH(2) results in the formation of two transients in each case, as observed by time-resolved IR and UV spectroscopy. The initial transients are assigned as the ketenes 7, and this is confirmed by IR measurements of the decay of the ketenyl absorbance.