Photochemical syntheses. XII. Photodimers related to 2-Methoxy-naphthalene

Abstract

Seven naphthalene derivatives related to 2-methoxynaphthalene form photodimers that are based on the ring systems (1) and/or (2). Except for the dimers of methyl 6-methoxy-2-naphthoate only head-to-tail dimers have been observed. This orientation can be related to the charge distributions in the ground states of the participating molecules if one assumes that pairwise association occurs before excitation.