Photoinduced Ultrafast Wolff Rearrangement: A Non-Adiabatic Dynamics Perspective

摘要

α-Diazocarbonyl compounds play an important role in organic synthesis, photolithography, drug delivery, and industrial chemistry. Upon irradiation they can undergo a Wolff rearrangement, with loss of nitrogen and ketene formation (Figure 1). This rearrangement was discovered more than a century ago, but its detailed reaction mechanism remains elusive.