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Updated: Dec 5, 2025

Photogeneration of N-Heterocyclic Carbenes: Application in Photoinduced Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization
Published on: November 29, 2018
Strain Release Chemistry of Photogenerated Small-Ring Intermediates
Adriana Luque1, Jan Paternoga1, Till Opatz1
1Department of Chemistry, Johannes Gutenberg University, Duesbergweg 10-14, 55128, Mainz, Germany.
Abstract:
Photochemical processes, such as isomerizations and cycloadditions, have proven to be very useful in the construction of highly strained molecular frameworks. Photoinduced ring strain enables subsequent exergonic reactions which do not require the input of additional chemical energy and provides a variety of attractive synthetic options leading to complex structures. This review covers the progress achieved in the application of sequences combining excitation by ultraviolet light to form strained intermediates, which are further transformed to lower energy products in strain-release reactions. As ring strain is considerable in small ring systems, photogenerated three- and four-membered rings will be covered, mainly focusing on examples from 2000 to May 2020.
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