Photosensitized cis-trans Isomerization of β-Alkylstyrenes

Abstract

Triplet sensitized isomerization of a series of β-alkylstyrenes has been investigated with the use of various sensitizers. Among the olefins employed β-t-butyl- and β-t-pentylstyrene were found to give remarkably high ratios of the cis-isomers (>80%) at the photostationary state. This fact is reasonably attributed to lower rate constants for energy transfer from the triplet sensitizers to the cis-isomers than to the trans-isomers.