Photochemical rearrangements of a [2.2]paracyclophane-based nitrene studied by vibrational CD spectroscopy

Abstract

Using VCD spectroscopy in combination with the matrix isolation technique, we investigate 4-azido-paracyclophane and its photochemical reaction products. We demonstrate that the isomers of the benzazirine and ketenimine photoproducts, although basically indistinguishable in the IR spectra, can be easily differentiated by VCD spectroscopy. The triplet nitrene cannot be identified unambiguously in the IR and VCD spectra of the irradiated sample.