Photochemical reactions of azo compounds. VII. Studies of the photochemical reactions of azobenzene under various acidic conditions

Abstract

An investigation has been made of the photochemical and dark reactions of azobenzene in acetic acid-ferric chloride and acetic acid-aluminium chloride mixtures for comparison with the corresponding reactions of azobenzene in sulphuric acid. The photochemical reactions resulted in cyclodehydrogenation of azobenzene to benzo[c]cinnoline, and small quantities of reduction products of azobenzene were also isolated. The formation of reduction products was again observed in the dark reactions, but there was no sign of cyclodehydrogenation. The significance of these observations is now discussed. Irradiation of azobenzene in acetyl chloride, or in acetic anhydride containing hydrogen chloride, resulted in a novel photochemical reaction in which NN?-diacetyl-4-chlorohydrazobenzene was formed in high yield.