Substituted Dibenzodiazocines: Rapid Synthesis and Photochemical Properties.

11,12-Dihydrodibenzo[,]-1,2-diazocines have been established as a viable alternative to azobenzene for photoswitching, in particular, as they show an inverted switching behavior: the ground state is the isomer. In this paper, we present an improved method to obtain dibenzodiazocine and its derivatives from the respective 2-nitrotoluenes in two reaction steps, each proceeding in minutes. This fast access to a variety of derivatives permitted the study of substitution effects on the synthesis and on the photochemical properties.