Inducing molecular reactions by selective vibrational excitation of a remote antenna with near-infrared light

Nunes C. M., Pereira N. A. M., Viegas L. P., Pinho e Melo T. M. V. D., Fausto R.

CHEMICAL COMMUNICATIONS, vol.57, no.75, pp.9570-9573, 2021 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 57 Issue: 75
  • Publication Date: 2021
  • Doi Number: 10.1039/d1cc03574f
  • Journal Name: CHEMICAL COMMUNICATIONS
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, Chemical Abstracts Core, Chimica, Communication Abstracts, Compendex, EMBASE, MEDLINE, DIALNET, Index Chemicus (IC)
  • Page Numbers: pp.9570-9573
  • Istanbul Kültür University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

We demonstrate here that selective vibrational excitation of a moiety, remotely attached in relation to the molecular reaction site, might offer a generalized strategy for inducing bond-breaking/bond-forming reactions with exquisite precision. As a proof-of-principle, the electrocyclic ring-expansion of a benzazirine to a ketenimine was induced, in a cryogenic matrix, by near-IR light tuned at the overtone stretching frequency of its OH remote antenna. This accomplishment paves the way for harnessing IR vibrational excitation as a tool to guide a variety of molecular structure manipulations in an exceptional highly-selective manner.