Dedicated to Prof. Dr. 0. E. Polunsky on the occasion of his 70th birthday (4.XI. 88)Mechanistic evidence for the light-induced ring opening of thiophen-2(5H)-ones 1 in alcohols affording c@-unsaturated mercapto esters 2 is presented. Regio-and stereochemical aspects of the ring closure of alkenylthio (type 3) radicals 15 and 17 to S-heterocycles 16 and 18, of 3-thiahex-5-enyl radicals 4 to (tetrahydrothien-3-yl)methyl radicals 6 and of (2,3-dihydrothien-3-yl)methyl radicals 30 (type 7, but-3-enyl radicals) to cyclopropanemethyl radicals 29 are discussed. Irradiation (A. 350 nm) of 1 in cyclohexane in the presence of 2,3-dimethylbut-2-ene affords [2 + 21 cycloadducts 14 albeit in very low yields.We have recently reported [ 1-71 that on irradiation thiophen-2(5H)-ones 1 behave different from the corresponding 0-heterocycles. While furan-2(5H)-ones exhibit a typical enone-like behaviour yielding cyclodimers, [2 + 21 cycloadducts with alkenes or photoreduction products in alcohols from their triplet state [S] [9], the unsaturated thiolactones 1 undergo ring opening in alcohols to give a$-unsaturated mercapto esters 2 from the excited singlet state. Mercapto esters 2 undergo consecutive light-induced S-H homolysis to afford alkenylthio radicals 3 which in reacting with alkenes or alkynes proved to be useful synthetic intermediates for one-pot syntheses of thiolanes, 2,3-dihydrothiophenes as well as bi-and tricyclic thiolane derivatives via intermediates 4-7 (Scheme 1). Such
-Scheme 1