The mechanism of photoinduced fragmentation of alkyl pyruvates
Abstract
The finding that t-butyl pyruvate is photostable and has a much longer triplet lifetime than methyl, ethyl, isopropyl, 2-deuterioisopropyl, and benzyl pyruvates, together with triplet quenching studies, shows that alkyl pyruvates fragment from the triplet state via a Type II and not a Type I process.