Preparative Organic Photochemistry

(Abridged and translated) Organic photochemistry may be divided into three parts: theory which is the province of the physical chemist; instrumentation which requires the skill of both physicist and engineer; and preparation which falls within the sphere of the organic chemist. At one time the same person could cover all three fields without too much difficulty, but this has now become virtually impossible because the disciplines involved have expanded in both breadth and depth; it is there fore timely to have a separate treatment of preparative organic photo chemistry. There appears to be no review of the main photochemical reactions which includes the advances made in recent years available to the organic chemist working in the preparative field. An exception is the excellent "Photochemical Reactions" by C. R. MASSON, V. BOEKELHEIDE and W. A. NoYES JR., published in 1956, which gives a brief review of the reactions which are important in preparative organic photochemistry. The present monograph on the other hand seeks to provide a detailed survey for the chemist; the author does not set out to discuss every photo chemical reaction in the field of organic chemistry but he does include in addition to those of current interest in the preparative field some which are likely to be of interest in the future and which result in single end-products of known composition. The photochemical synthesis of highly polymerized products falls outside the scope of the work.

Unique in its focus on preparative impact rather than mechanistic details, this handbook provides an overview of photochemical reactions classed according to the structural feature that is built in the photochemical step, so as to facilitate use by synthetic chemists unfamiliar with this topic. An introductory section covers practical questions on how to run a photochemical reaction, while all classes of the most important photocatalytic reactions are also included. Perfect for organic synthetic chemists in academia and industry.

Photochemistry of Organic Compounds: From Concepts toPractice provides a hands-on guide demonstrating the underlyingprinciples of photochemistry and, by reference to a range oforganic reaction types, its effective use in the synthesis of neworganic compounds and in various applications. The book presents a complete and methodical approach to thetopic, Working from basic principles, discussing key techniques andstudies of reactive intermediates, and illustrating syntheticphotochemical procedures. Incorporating special topics and case studies covering variousapplications of photochemistry in chemistry, environmentalsciences, biochemistry, physics, medicine, and industry. Providing extensive references to the original literature andto review articles. Concluding with a chapter on retrosynthetic photochemistry,listing key reactions to aid the reader in designing their ownsynthetic pathways. This book will be a valuable source of information andinspiration for postgraduates as well as professionals from a widerange of chemical and natural sciences.

Introduction to Organic Photochemistry John D. Coyle, The Open University, Milton Keynes The purpose of this book is to provide an introductory account of the major types of organic photochemical reactions, to enable those with a prior knowledge of basic organic chemistry to appreciate the differences between processes which occur photochemically (through an electronically excited state) and those that occur thermally (directly from the electronic ground state). The material is organized according to organic functional groups, in parallel with the approach adopted in most general textbooks on organic chemistry. In this respect it differs from many of the existing, older organic photochemistry texts. The first chapter provides an account of the distinctive features of photochemical reactions, and a physical/mechanistic framework for the descriptions in the rest of the book. The overall emphasis is on organic photoreactions potentially useful in synthesis. The book thus integrates this branch of chemistry with broader aspects of the subject, and introduces the reader to important applications of organic photochemistry.

In the past fifteen years organic photochemistry has undergone a greater change and has stimulated more interest than probably any other area of organic chemistry. What has resulted is a population explosion, that is, an ever-increasing number of organic chemists are publishing important and exciting research papers in this area. Professor Bryce-Smith in the introduc tion to a recent volume of the Specialist Periodical Report (Photochemistry, Volume 6), which reviews the photochemical literature in yearly intervals, states that "the flood of photochemical literature is showing some signs of abatement from the high levels of two or three years ago .... " However, Volume 6 of that periodical contains 764 pages of excellent but very concise reviews. We expect the development of the mechanistic aspects of organic photo chemistry to continue at the present pace as new methods are developed to probe in increasing detail and shorter time scales the photochemical dynamics of both old and new photoreactions. Since photochemistry is no longer the sole domain of the specialist, it is relatively safe to predict a dramatic increase in the near future of the synthetic and industrial uses of organic photo chemistry .