Light-Induced Direct Arylation in the Solid Crystalline State as a Strategy Towards π-Expanded Imidazoles

π-Expanded imidazoles bearing the 2-iodophenyl substituent at position 2 undergo direct photoinduced intramolecular arylation in the solid, crystalline state leading to large non-planar heterocycles. An analogous reaction employing 2-bromophenyl and 2-chlorophenyl substituents is considerably slower. Such processes have never before been demonstrated to occur in crystals and have allowed the efficient synthesizes of structurally unique compounds containing either the phenanthro[9',10':4,5]imidazo[1,2-f]phenanthridine moiety or structurally related skeletons. The reaction occurs in the thin crystalline layers irradiated with UV photons in an almost quantitative manner over 48-72 h. Several previously unknown architectures have been prepared using this methodology. Furthermore, the optical properties of these π-expanded imidazoles can be altered with the addition of heteroatoms and/or electron-donating groups.

How To Reach Intense Luminescence for Compounds Capable of Excited-State Intramolecular Proton Transfer?

Photoinduced intramolecular direct arylation allows structurally unique compounds containing phenanthro[9',10':4,5]imidazo[1,2-f]phenanthridine and imidazo[1,2-f]phenanthridine skeletons, which mediate excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT), to be efficiently synthesized. The developed polycyclic aromatics demonstrate that the combination of five-membered ring structures with a rigid arrangement between a proton donor and a proton acceptor provides a means for attaining large fluorescence quantum yields, exceeding 0.5, even in protic solvents. Steady-state and time-resolved UV/Vis spectroscopy reveals that, upon photoexcitation, the prepared protic heteroaromatics undergo ESIPT, converting them efficiently into their excited-state keto tautomers, which have lifetimes ranging from about 5 to 10 ns. The rigidity of their structures, which suppresses nonradiative decay pathways, is believed to be the underlying reason for the nanosecond lifetimes of these singlet excited states and the observed high fluorescence quantum yields. Hydrogen bonding with protic solvents does not interfere with the excited-state dynamics and, as a result, there is no difference between the occurrences of ESIPT processes in MeOH versus cyclohexane. Acidic media has a more dramatic effect on suppressing ESIPT by protonating the proton acceptor. As a result, in the presence of an acid, a larger proportion of the fluorescence of ESIPT-capable compounds originates from their enol excited states.

Dynamics of Solvent Controlled ESIPT of π-Expanded Imidazole Derivatives - pH Effect

A set of π-expanded imidazole derivatives employing excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) was designed and synthesized. The relationship between the structure and photophysical properties were thoroughly elucidated by comparing with the analogue blocked with ESIPT functionality. The compound possessing an acidic NH function as part of an intramolecular hydrogen bond system has much higher fluorescence quantum yield and Stokes shift and the π-expansion strongly influences the optical properties. The occurrence of ESIPT for imidazole tosylamide derivatives were less affected by the hydrogen-bonding ability of the solvents compared to the unprotected amine. The low pKa values for the monocation ⇌ neutral equilibrium indicate the presence of intramolecular hydrogen bonding between the amino proton and tertiary nitrogen atom.

Recombination of lophyl radicals in pyrrolidinium-based ionic liquids

The recombination of photolytically generated lophyl radicals has been investigated by UV/Vis spectroscopy in 1-alkyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imides (NTf2) in comparison with 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium NTf2 , dimethyl sulfoxide, and triacetin. The 1-alkyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium-based ionic liquids contain an alkyl substituent varying between butyl and decyl groups. Optically pure ionic liquids are used in these studies. Temperature-dependent investigation of lophyl radical recombination shows an increase in the radical recombination rate with increasing temperature in each solvent, which is caused by decreasing viscosity with increasing temperature. Furthermore, the viscosity of the 1-alkyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium NTf2 increases nearly linearly within the row of these ionic liquids. In contrast, the recombination of the photolytically generated lophyl radicals is significantly faster in the ionic liquids than in the traditional organic solvents under investigation. Moreover, the recombination rate increases with the length of the alkyl chain bound at the cation of the ionic liquid at a given temperature. This may be caused by an increase in the extent of lophyl radical recombination within the solvent cage. Solvent cage effects dominate in the case of lophyl radical recombination in ionic liquids bearing a long alkyl chain or if the temperature is near the melting temperature of the ionic liquid. The positive value of the activation entropy supports this hypothesis. The results obtained are important for discussion of bimolecular radical reactions in ionic liquids.