Silyl-Tranfer Photoreactions of Trimethylsilylmethyl Substituted Acyclic N-Sulfonylbenzamides

The azomethine ylide forming photoreaction has been explored by probing the excited state chemistry of several N-trimethylsilylmethyl substituted cyclic and acyclic imides and amide analogs. N-[(Trimethylsilyl)methyl]-N-mesylbenzamide (5) undergoes the excited state C to O silyl migration reaction to produce azomethine ylide intermediate 13. This ylide undergoes electrocyclization to form transient aziridine intermediate 14 which react further by ring opening to generate N-phenacylamine product 10. On the other hand, photolysis of N-[N-mesyl-N-(trimethylsilyl)methyl]aminoethyl-N-mesylbenzamide (8) brings about desilylation resulting in the production of dimer 17.