Photoinduced electron-transfer systems consisting of electron-donating pyrenes or anthracenes and benzimidazolines for reductive transformation of carbonyl compounds

Photoinduced electron-transfer reactions of several ketone substrates were studied to evaluate the utilities of 1,6-bis(dimethyl-amino)pyrene (BDMAP), 1,6-dimethoxypyrene (DMP), 9,10-bis(dimethlylamino)anthracene (BDMAA), and 9,10-dimethoxyanthracene (DMA) as electron-donating sensitizers cooperating with 2-aryl-13-dimethylbenzimidazolines. BDMAP and DMP generally led higher conversion of ketones and better yield of reduction products compared to BDMAA and DMA. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.