Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.135, No.9, 3407-3410, 2013
Photo- and Thermal-Induced Multistructural Transformation of 2-Phenylazolyl Chelate Boron Compounds
The new N,C-chelate boron compounds B(2-phenylazolyl)Mes(2) [Mes = mesityl; azolyl = benzothiazolyl (la), 4-methylthiazolyl (2a), benzoxazolyl (3a), benzimidazolyl (4a)] undergo an unprecedented multistructural transformation upon light irradiation or heating, sequentially producing isomers b, c, d, and e. The dark isomers b generated by photoisomerization of a undergo a rare thermal intramolecular H-atom transfer (HAT), reducing the azole ring and generating new isomers c, which are further transformed into isomers d. Remarkably, isomers d can be converted to their diastereomers e quantitatively by heating, and e can be converted back to d by irradiation at 300 nm. The structures of isomers id and le were established by X-ray diffraction. The unusual HAT reactivity can be attributed to the geometry of the highly energetic isomers b and the relatively low aromaticity of the azole rings. The boryl unit plays a key role in the reversible interconversion of d and e, as shown by mechanistic pathways established through DFT and TD-DFT calculations.