Thermal [2 + 2] cycloreversion of a cyclobutane moiety via a biradical reaction

The nature of the Woodward-Hoffmann-forbidden, thermal activated cycloreversion mechanism of cyclobutane has long been the subject of speculation and intense research. We were now able to prove the theoretically postulated biradicalic mechanism directly from radical scavenging reactions and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) experiments on [2 + 2] heterodimers of 5-fluoro-1-heptanoyluracil and 7-methoxy-1,1-dimethylnaphthalenon. The dimers show both the "allowed" photochemically as well as the "forbidden" thermally triggered [2 + 2] cycloreversion of the cyclobutane ring. The quantum efficiency of the photochemical cleavage is about 1%. The thermal cycloreversion reaction is independent from solvent and occurs at low activation energies of about 13 kcal/mol, even in the solid state. The radical scavenger and EPR results are further supported by the finding, that the reaction products are solely the educts for the anti-head-to-tail heterodimer. But for the syn-head-to-head heterodimer two additional products are observed, which require a sufficiently stable biradical intermediate to facilitate the required intramolecular rearrangements. Because of the surprisingly high lifetime of the radical species of these heterodimers it was possible to prove the long-discussed biradical mechanism experimentally.