Photoinduced electron transfer between acenaphthylene and tetracyanoethylene: Effect of irradiation mode on reactivity of the charge-transfer complex and the resulted radical ion pair in solution and crystalline state

The mechanism of photodimerization of acenaphthylene (ACN) and of reactions with tetracyanoethylene (TCNE) by electron transfer (ET) has been investigated in solution and solid state to elucidate the role of the radical cation of ACN (ACN(+.)) in formation of the cisoid-dimer (cisoid-1) and the transoid-dimer (transoid-1) of ACN and addition products to TCNE. Selective excitation of the 1:1 charge-transfer (CT) complex between ACN and TCNE with light of >500 nm did not result in any reaction in acetonitrile (AN) or 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE). On the other hand, direct irradiation of ACN with light of >400 nm in solution in the presence of TCNE gave cisoid-l and transoid-1 as the major products together with a [2 + 2]-adduct (2) and two isomeric [2 + 2 + 2]-adducts (3 and 4) of ACN and TCNE as minor products. Distinction of photochemical reactivity between selective CT excitation and direct excitation of ACN can be attributed to faster backward electron transfer (BET) from the contact radical ion pair (CIP) on CT excitation than from the solvent-separated radical ion pair (SSIP) on direct excitation of ACN due to very low energy for BET, as low as 1.34 V. Effect of [TCNE] on quantum yield for the dimerization of ACN and on the cisoid/transoid ratio of the resulted I rationalizes the mechanism involving the singlet and triplet SSIP; the former tends to undergo BET, but the latter undergoes dissociation to ACN(+.), followed by formation of dimeric radical cation of ACN, ACN(2)(+.), finally leading to 1. A possible mechanism for formation of 3 and 4 is discussed an the basis of concentration dependence of ACN. Contrary to photochemical inertness of the CT complex in solutions, CT excitation of the 1:1 crystal of ACN and TCNE (ACN TCNE) gave 2 as the sole product. The selective formation of 2 indicates that fixation of the two alkenic C=C double bonds in ACN TCNE separated by 3-4 Angstrom in both the excited CT state and the resulted CIP retards the deactivation and BET but enables them to undergo cycloaddition.