Photochemical Ring Contraction of 5,5-Dialkylcyclopent-2-enones and in situ Trapping by Primary Amines

Abstract

If substituted in the 5,5-position, cyclopent-2-enones undergo a smooth photochemical rearrangement to ketenes. A concomitant cyclopropane formation occurs due to a 1,3-shift of the C5 carbon atom from the carbonyl carbon atom (C1) to carbon atom C3. In this study, the cyclopropylsubstituted ketene intermediates were trapped in situ by primary amines providing an efficient entry into 2,2-disubstituted cyclopropaneacetic amides (24 examples, 49−95% yield). A remarkable feature of the reaction is the fact that the photochemical rearrangement can occur from either the first excited singlet (S 1 ) or the respective triplet state (T 1 ). In line with experimental results (triplet quenching, sensitization), XMS-CASPT2 calculations support the existence of efficient reaction pathways to the intermediate ketene both on the singlet and on the triplet hypersurface.