Adiabatic trans-cis photoisomerization and photocyclization of 8-styrylquinoline

Kinetics of the photocyclization of trans-8-styrylquinoline into 10a,10b-dihydronaphtho[1,2-h]quinoline (4-azachrysene) was studied in hexane. It was found that in addition to the expected two-step (two-quantum) route with trans-cis photoisomerization occurring in the first step with a quantum yield of φtc = 0.13 with consequent photocyclization of the cis-isomer with a quantum yield of 0.23. The direct singlequantum photocyclization of the trans-isomer with a quantum yield of 0.009 is also observed. The latter observation indicates that the excited trans-isomer isomerizes without loss of excitation to the excited cis-isomer, which then undergoes cyclization, i.e., the trans-cis photoisomerization proceeds partially by adiabatic mechanism t* → c*.