Solid‐State Photodimerization of 1,2‐Bis(5′‐pyrimidyl)ethene

Abstract

The photodimerization of 1,2‐bis(5′‐pyrimidyl)ethene in the solid state is reported. Photolysis of the crystalline solid formed on self‐assembly of 1,2‐bis(5′‐pyrimidyl)ethene and C‐methylcalix[4]resorcinarene and photolysis of the solid recystallized from dichloromethane yielded cis‐anti‐cis‐1,2,3,4‐tetrakis(5′‐pyrimidyl)cyclobutane as the only product. Single‐crystal X‐ray analysis of each of these solids confirms that the alkenes are π‐stacked, colinear, and separated by less than 4.2 Å.

Keywords:

• crystal structure
• [2+2] cycloaddition
• photolysis
• solid state

Acknowledgments

We thank the National Science Foundation for financial support of this research (Grant No. 0415711).