Effect of donor and acceptor properties of solvents on the kinetics of photoreduction of sterically hindered о-benzoquinones

Abstract

Effect of the solvent nature on the kinetics of photoreduction of 3,6-di-tert-butyl-1,2-benzoquinone and its six derivatives in the presence of N,N-dimethylaniline and 4-(N,N-dimethylamino)benzaldehyde has been investigated. It has been found that for the о-quinone—amine pair, for which the free energy change of electron transfer is ΔG_e > +0.11 eV, the rate constant of о-quinone photoreduction k_H decreases proportionally to the increase in the acceptor number of the solvent. For the о-quinone—amine pair with ΔG_e < +0.11 eV, the k_H value decreases proportionally to the increase in the donor number of the solvent. It has been established that the enhancement of the electron-acceptor properties of the solvent leads to the emergence of kinetic isotope effect for the reactant pairs of 3,6-di-tert-butyl-1,2-benzoquinone and 4,5-dimethoxy-3,6-di-tert-butyl-1,2-benzoquinone with N,N-di-methylaniline (ΔG_e = +0.11 and +0.22 eV, respectively).