On the Mechanism of Photodehydrogenation of Aryl(hetaryl)pyrazolines in the Presence of Perchloroalkanes.

New (1,5-diaryl-3-pyrazolinyl)coumarins have been synthesized. The compounds do not undergo keto-enol tautomeric transformations with changes in the solvent. (1,5-Diaryl-3-pyrazolinyl)coumarins provide dehydrogenation reaction under irradiation in the presence of perchloroalkanes and manifest themselves as effective photogenerators of acidity. Several aspects of photodehydrogenation mechanism have been studied. Oxygen is shown not be involved in the reaction. Polar solvents increase rate of the reaction. The measured rate constants of the photodehydrogenation reactions vary in a significant range according to the structure of pyrazoline. The data correlate with ionization potentials of pyrazolines available from DFT quantum chemical calculations. These results are discussed in terms of proposed scheme of mechanism of pyrazolines photodehydrogenation assuming formation of ion-radical and ion intermediates.