Clean photochemical conversion of perfluoroalkylated phenanthrene-9,10-o-quinones to perfluoroalkylated diphenic anhydrides

Abstract

Under light irradiation, carbonyl compounds interact with molecular oxygen, a common excited state quencher, resulting in the formation of either triplet state-oxygen adducts or singlet oxygen via energy transfer. With phenanthrene-9,10-o-quinones, molecular oxygen usually adds on molecular structures forming triplet state-oxygen adducts which then convert to different final products, often complex mixtures. Here, we report that perfluoroalkylated phenanthrene-9,10-o-quinones exclusively undergo light mediated transformation into diphenic anhydride derivatives.