New types of phototransformations in the quinone series, viz., photocyclizations of 1 aryloxy 2 azido 9,10 anthraquinone in the presence of phenols, were studied. The photoly sis affords mainly 5H naphtho[2,3 c]phenoxazine 8,13 diones, in which the nitrogen atom is covalently bound to the phenyl ring of the attached phenol. As a result, complex polycyclic derivatives of phenoxazines were prepared in high yields in one step.It is known 1,2 that visible light irradiation of 1 aryloxy 9,10 anthraquinone derivatives causes migration of the aryl group to the peri oxygen atom to form highly reactive 9 aryloxy 1,10 anthraquinones. Earlier, we have modi fied 1 aryloxy 9,10 anthraquinones by introducing the second photoactive (acyloxy, 3 nitroso, 4 diazo, azo, 5 or azido 6,7 ) group into the quinone molecule and studied the factors determining the reactivity and the preference of a particular reaction pathway. The photolysis and thermoly sis of 2 diazo and azido derivatives proved to be a conve nient general approach to the synthesis of new hetero cyclic 9,10 anthraquinone derivatives annelated at posi tions 1 and 2 with furan, thiophene, phenoxazine, or phenothiazine heterocycles. A new photoreaction, viz., the cyclization of 2 azido 1 (4 tert butylphenoxy) 9,10 anthraquinone in the presence of excess 4 tert butylphenol yielding 5H naphtho[2,3 c]phenoxazine 8,13 dione sub stituted at the nitrogen atom, was discovered in the study. 7 To our knowledge, data on analogous photoinitiated cy clizations of azido derivatives are lacking in the literature.Undoubtedly, a detailed investigation of this cycliza tion is of theoretical interest because the mechanism of this reaction and the dependence of its efficiency on the chemical nature of the reagents remain unclear. These data can be useful also in the applied aspect because the observed photocyclization is a new one step synthesis of various polycyclic phenoxazines and phenothiazines.The aim of the present study was to investigate photo chemical transformations of 2 azido 1 (4 tert butyl phenoxy) 9,10 anthraquinone in the presence of phenol and its alkyl derivatives, compare the efficiency of the phototransformations, and determine the structures of photocyclization products.
Results and Discussion2 Azido 1 (4 tert butylphenoxy) 9,10 anthraquinone (1) was synthesized from 2 amino 1 chloro 9,10 anthra quinone by introducing the 4 tert butylphenoxy group according to a known procedure 8 followed by the diazoti zation of the amino group and the reaction of the result ing solution of the diazonium salt with NaN 3 by analogy with the study. 9A solution of azidoanthraquinone 1 and phenol ArOH in a ratio of 1 : 3 in dry benzene was irradiated at 20 °C with full light from a mercury lamp or with sunlight until azide 1 was completely consumed (Scheme 1). The photocyclization in the presence of unsubstituted phenol or ortho and para alkyl substituted phenols afforded the corresponding 5H naphtho[2,3 c]phenoxazine 8,13 diones 2a-d in high yields. In all cases, small amounts (<5%) of 1 hy...