Effects of substituents on aryl groups during the reaction of triarylphosphine radical cation and oxygen.

In a previous report (S. Yasui, S. Tojo and T. Majima, J. Org. Chem., 2005, 70, 1276), we presented the results from the laser flash photolysis (LFP) and product analysis of the 9,10-dicyanoanthracene (DCA)-photosensitized oxidation of triarylphosphine (Ar(3)P) in acetonitrile under air, which showed that the photoreaction results in the oxidation of Ar(3)P to give the corresponding phosphine oxide (Ar(3)P=O) in a nearly quantitative yield, and that the reaction is initiated by the electron transfer (ET) from Ar(3)P to DCA in the singlet excited state ((1)DCA*), producing the triarylphosphine radical cation Ar(3)P (+). This radical cation decays through radical coupling with O(2) to afford the peroxy radical cation Ar(3)P(+)-O-O*, which we proposed to be the intermediate leading to the product Ar(3)P=O. We now examined this photoreaction in more detail using ten kinds of Ar(3)P with various electronic and steric characteristics. The decay rate of Ar(3)P*(+) measured by the LFP was only slightly affected by the substituents on the aryl groups of Ar(3)P. During the photolysis of trimesitylphosphine (Mes(3)P), the peroxy radical cation intermediate (Mes(3)P(+)-O-O*) had a lifetime long enough to be spectrophotometrically detected. The quantum yields of Ar(3)P=O increased with either electron-withdrawing or -releasing substituents on the aryl groups, suggesting that a radical center is developed on the phosphorus atom during the step when the quantum yield is determined. In addition, the o-methyl substituents in Ar(3)P decreased the quantum yield. These results clearly indicated that Ar(3)P(+)-O-O* undergoes radical attack upon the parent phosphine Ar(3)P that eventually produces the final product, Ar(3)P=O.