Photolysis of the 1-naphthylmethyl ester of substituted phenylacetic acids: intramolecular charge transfer and rates of decarboxylation of arylacyloxy radicals

Abstract

The photolysis of esters 6 and 8 in methanol leads to products resulting from both naphthylmethyl cations and radicals. The product distribution is nearly independent of X for the esters 6 except when X equals methoxy. A mechanism involving initial homolytic cleavage of the carbon–oxygen bond in the excited singlet state of the ester is proposed. Competition between electron transfer in the radical pair to form the ion pair and decarboxylation of the arylacyloxy radical allows calculations of the rates for this decarboxylation process. The ρ value versus σ is close to zero. When X equals methoxy, intramolecular electron transfer occurs with the naphthalene ring serving as the acceptor and the methoxyaromatic as the donor. This exciplex fragments to carbon dioxide and 1-(1-naphthyl)-2-arylethane. Keywords: acyloxy radical, decarboxylation, photolysis of benzylic esters.