Substituent and Surfactant Effects on the Photochemical Reaction of Some Aryl Benzoates in Micellar Green Environment†

Abstract

In this study, we carried out preparative and mechanistic studies on the photochemical reaction of a series of p-substituted phenyl benzoates in confined and sustainable micellar environment. The aim of this work is mainly focused to show whether the nature of the surfactant (ionic or nonionic) leads to noticeable selectivity in the photoproduct formation and whether the electronic effects of the substituents affect the chemical yields and the rate of formation of the 5-substituted-2-hydroxybenzophenone derivatives. Application of the Hammett linear free energy relationship (LFER) on the rate of formation of benzophenone derivatives, on the lower energy band of the UV-visible absorption spectra of the aryl benzoates and 5-substituted-2-hydroxybenzophenone derivatives allows a satisfactory quantification of the substituent effects. Furthermore, UV-visible and 2D-NMR (NOESY) spectroscopies have been employed to measure the binding constant Kb and the location of the aryl benzoates within the hydrophobic core of the micelle. Finally, TD-DFT calculations have been carried out to estimate the energies of the absorption bands of p-substituted phenyl benzoates and 5-substituted-2-hydroxybenzophenone derivatives providing good linear correlation with those values measured experimentally.