The effect of ring size on the photo-Favorskii induced ring-contraction reaction of the hydroxybenzocycloalkanonyl acetate and mesylate esters (7a-d, 8a-c) has provided new insight into the mechanism of the rearrangement. By monotonically decreasing the ring size in these cyclic derivatives, the increasing ring strain imposed on the formation of the elusive bicyclic spirocyclopropanone 20 resul...

A bioorthogonal 'catch and photorelease' strategy, which combines alkyne-azide cycloaddition between p-hydroxyphenacyl azide and alkyne derivatives to form a 1,2,3-triazole adduct and subsequent photochemical release of the triazole moiety via a photo-Favorskii rearrangement, is introduced. The first step can also involve photorelease of a strained alkyne and its Cu-free click reaction with azide.

α-Diazo arylketones are well-known substrates for Wolff rearrangement to phenylacetic acids through a ketene intermediate by either thermal or photochemical activation. Likewise, α-substituted p-hydroxyphenacyl (pHP) esters are substrates for photo-Favorskii rearrangements to phenylacetic acids by a different pathway that purportedly involves a cyclopropanone intermediate. In this paper, we sho...

A clean bifurcation between two important photochemical reactions through competition of a triplet state Type II H-abstraction reaction with a photo-Favorskii rearrangement for (o/p)-hydroxy-o-methylphenacyl esters that depends on the water content of the solvent has been established. The switch from the anhydrous Type II pathway that yields indanones to the aqueous-dependent pathway producing ...

The bacteriostatic natural product enterocin from the marine microbe "Streptomyces maritimus" has an unprecedented carbon skeleton that is derived from an aromatic polyketide biosynthetic pathway. Its caged tricyclic, nonaromatic core is derived from a linear poly-beta-ketide precursor that formally undergoes a Favorskii-like oxidative rearrangement. In vivo characterization of the gene encM th...

[reaction: see text] (+/-)-Kelsoene (4) has been synthesized from 2,5-dihydroanisole in 16 steps in 12.5% overall yield. The key step involves a base-catalyzed reaction of gamma-keto tosylate (5), which effects a homo-Favorskii rearrangement to 16 as well as the corresponding intramolecular S(N)2 product 15 from the enolate of 5. Ketone 15 can efficiently be isomerized to cyclobutanone 17 havin...