Significant solvent effects and unusual additions of p-chloranil in the photoinduced electron-transfer reaction of 2,2-dianisyl-4-isopropylidene-3,3-dimethylcyclobutanone

A photoinduced electron-transfer reaction of 2,2-dianisyl-4-isopropylidene-3,3-dimethylcyclobutanone (1) in benzene gave two unexpected CA-adducts, 5,5-dianisyl-4,4-dimethyl-3-[1-(4-hydroxy-2,3,5,6-tetrachlorophenyl)methylethylidene]dihydrofuran-2-one (7) and 2,2-dianisyl-4-(4-hydroxy-2,3,5,6-tetrachlorophenoxy)-4-isopropenyl-3,3-dimethylcyclobutanone (8), while the reaction in acetonitrile did not, suggesting significant solvent effects on the product distribution.