Photodehydrocyclizations of stilbene‐like compounds XV: Electronic overlap population as a reactivity measure in photocyclizations of pentahelicenes

Abstract

Abstract The reactivity of several pentahelicene derivatives with respect to photocyclization was shown to be directly related to the EH first excited state electronic overlap population of the atom pair involved in the cyclization, and also to the difference in electronic overlap populations of these atoms resulting from the electron excitation. The lack of reactivity caused by benzo‐annelation on the 7,7′ atoms of pentahelicenes is attributed to an inversion of the normal MO sequence within the two topmost occupied orbitals and the two lowest unoccupied orbitals.