• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.166-172
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• 1992

Studies have been conducted to explore single electron transfer (SET) induced photocyclization reactions of N-(trimethylsilylmethoxyalkyl)phthalimides(alkyl=E thyl, n-propyl, n-butyl, n-pentyl, and n-octyl). Photocyclizations occur in methanol in high yields to produce cyclized products in which phthalimide carbonyl carbon is bonded to the carbon of side chain in place of the trimethylsilyl group. Mechanism for these photocyclizations involving intramolecular SET from oxygen in the $\alpha-silylmethoxy$ groups to the singlet excited state phthalimide moieties followed by desilylation of the intermediate $\alpha-silylmethoxy$ cation radicals and cyclization by radical coupling are proposed. In contrast, photoreaction of N-(trimethylsilylmethoxyethyl) phthalimide in acetone follows different reaction routes to produce two cyclized products in which carbon-carbon bond formation takes place between the phthalimide carbonyl carbon and the carbon $\alpha$ to silicon and oxygen atoms via triplet carbonyl hydrogen abstraction triplet carbonyl silyl group abstraction pathways. The normal singlet SET pathway dominates these triplet processes for photoreaction of this substance in methanol. The efficient and regioselective cyclization reactions observed for photolysis in methanol represent synthetically useful processes for construction of medium and large ring heterocyclic compounds.