Amino Azaxylylenes Photogenerated from o-Amido Imines: Photoassisted Access to Complex Spiro-Poly-Heterocycles

Upon irradiation, cyclic imines containing o-amido groups are shown to produce reactive intermediates, amino azaxylylenes, which undergo intramolecular cycloadditions to tethered unsaturated pendants to yield complex N,O-heterocycles having an additional spiro-connected nitrogen heterocyclic moiety. Modular assembly of the photoprecursors allows expeditious increase of the complexity of the target poly-heterocyclic scaffolds with a minimal number of experimentally simple reaction steps. The photocyclization and subsequent postphotochemical transformations are accompanied by an increase of Lovering's fsp3 factor, thus producing unprecedented three-dimensional molecular architectures, and offering extended sampling of chemical space.