| Abstract | Photooxidation of 4H-cyclopenta, [def]phenanthrene (2) and 4H-cyclopenta[def]chrysene (1) gave the corresponding benzylic ketones and alcohols. Oxidation of 1 via the radical cation, followed by quenching with water or superoxide, gave only the corresponding ketone, whereas 2 was inert under identical conditions. The benzylic cation derived from 2 was generated by laser flash photolysis (LFP) of the alcohol precursor and the second order rate constants for quenching with different nucleophiles were obtained. These were compared with the kinetic data of bimolecular quenching of the parent 9-fluorenyl cation. |
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