Photochemical relationships in Sacoglossan polypropionates.

Cyercene A has been synthesized and converted to placidene A and isoplacidene A through photoisomerization with sunlight. Hydroperoxide, isolated form Placida dendritica, was synthesized both by singlet oxygenation of cyercene A using Rose Bengal and through the irradiation of cyercene A alone in aerobic solution. The observation that hydroperoxide could be made by singlet oxygenation of cyercene A and that this occurs when cyercene A alone is irradiated supported the hypothesis that gamma-pyrones may act as triplet sensitizers. This was confirmed using cyercene A and a model gamma-pyrone to sensitize the photooxidation of n-butyl sulfide. The biosynthetic implications of these observations for Sacoglossan polypropionates are discussed.