Photoreactivity of conjugated bichromophoric molecules; an unusual dimerization of o-vinylbenzaldehyde
Abstract
Irradiation of o-vinylbenzaldehyde 1a affords the oxygen-bridged dimer 7a, presumably, through an initial [π2a+π4s] rearrangement; intermediacy of spiro triene 6 is supported by deuterium labelling experiments which also reveal the reversible nature of the concurrently occurring 1,5-hydrogen shift (1 ⇄ 2).