The
nitrile imine-mediated tetrazole–ene cycloaddition is
a widely used class of photoligation. Optimizing the reaction outcome
requires detailed knowledge of the tetrazole photoactivation profile,
which can only partially be ascertained from absorption spectroscopy,
or otherwise involves laborious reaction monitoring in solution. Photodissociation
action spectroscopy (PDAS) combines the advantages of optical spectroscopy
and mass spectrometry in that only absorption events resulting in
a mass change are recorded, thus revealing the desired wavelength
dependence of product formation. Moreover, the sensitivity and selectivity
afforded by the mass spectrometer enable reliable assessment of the
photodissociation profile even on small amounts of crude material,
thus accelerating the design and synthesis of next-generation substrates.
Using this workflow, we demonstrate that the photodissociation onset
for nitrile imine formation is red-shifted by ca. 50 nm with a novel N-ethylcarbazole derivative relative to a phenyl-substituted
archetype. Benchmarked against solution-phase tunable laser experiments
and supported by quantum chemical calculations, these discoveries
demonstrate that PDAS is a powerful tool for rapidly screening the
efficacy of new substrates in the quest toward efficient visible light-triggered
ligation for biological applications.