No abstract

Two reaction protocols are described which involve the use of polymer supports as reaction media for photooxygenation processes: 1) The use of polystyrene beads (PS) loaded with tetraphenyl-(TPP) or tetratolylporphyrin (TTP), swollen with the substrate in an appropriate organic solvent and subsequent irradiation under air. Products were isolated simply by dissolution in alcoholic solvents and filtration. 2) Covalently linked tetrastyrylporphyrin in polystyrene-divinylbenzene beads were synthesized by emulsifier-free emulsion polymerization and directly used for the photooxygenation protocol described above. The latter alternative allows also the use of less polar solvents for the extraction of the oxygenation products from the polymer beads. From the sensitizer loading degree, an optimal substrate/sensitizer molar ratio of 1,000 ± 2,000 was determined and recyclization is possible for at least five times resulting in a minimum turnover number (with respect to the sensitizer TTP) of 5 Â 10 4 (after five cycles). Both approaches were applied to the ene reaction of singlet oxygen with citronellol (1), the regioisomeric pinenes 3 and 5, and the allylic alcohols 9a ± c, respectively, as well as to the [4 2]-cycloadditions of singlet oxygen to sorbinol (7) and the chiral diene 11.

A solvent-free photooxygenation process that uses organic substrates embedded in porphyrin-loaded polystyrene beads as solid support is described and applied for ene- and [4 + 2]-cycloaddition reactions involving singlet oxygen (1 delta g).

The ene reaction of chiral allylic alcohols is applied as a tool for the investigation of intrapolymer effects by means of the stereoselectivity of the singlet-oxygen addition. The diastereo selectivity strongly depends on the structure of the polymer, the substrate loading degree and also on the degree of conversion demonstrating additional supramolecular effects evolving during the reaction. The efficiency and the stability of polymer-bound sensitizers were evaluated by the ene reaction of singlet oxygen with citronellol. The ene reaction with chiral ammonium salts of tiglic acid was conducted under solution phase conditions or in polystyrene beads under chiral contact ion-pair conditions. The products thus obtained precipitate during the photoreaction as ammonium salts. Moderate asymmetric induction was observed for this procedure for the first time.

Photooxygenation involving the first excited singlet state of molecular oxygen is a versatile method for the generation of a multitude of oxy-functionalized target molecules often with high regio- and stereoselectivities. The efficiency of singlet-oxygen reactions is largely dependent on the nonradiative deactivation paths, mainly induced by the solvent and the substrate intrinsically. The intrinsic (physical) quenching properties as well as the selectivity-determining factors of the (chemical) quenching can be modified by adjusting the microenvironment of the reactive substrate. Tetraarylporphyrins or protoporphyrin IX were embedded in polystyrene (PS) beads and in polymer films or covalently linked into PS during emulsion polymerization. These polymer matrices are suitable for a broad variety of (solvent-free) photooxygenation reactions. One specific example discussed in detail is the ene reaction of singlet oxygen with chiral allylic alcohols yielding unsaturated β-hydroperoxy alcohols in (threo) diastereoselectivities, which depended on the polarity and hydrogen-bonding capacity of the polymer matrix. These products were applied for the synthesis of mono- and spirobicyclic 1,2,4-trioxanes, molecules that showed moderate to high antimalarial properties. Subsequent structure optimization resulted in in vitro activities that surpassed that of the naturally occurring sesquiterpene-peroxide artemisinin.