Flash vacuum thermolysis generation and a UV-photoelectron spectroscopy study of the N-substituted iminoacetonitriles

Flash vacuum thermolysis of cis and trans 1-benzyl and 1-allyl-2-cyano-3-phenylzetidines (1a and 1b) at 470 °C resulted in the formation of E and Z isomers of N-benzyl and N-allyl iminoacetonitriles 2a and 2b, respectively, beside small amounts of products 3a and 3b of their [1,3] prototropic shifts. It was found that the thermal fragmentation of the azetidine ring occurred fully regioselectively with a cleavage of the C2-C3 and C4-N bonds, but not the N-C2 and C3-C4 bonds. The UV-photoelectron spectrum of compound 2b was measured and analyzed with the aid of quantum chemical calculations of ionization energies. The strong modification of the electronic structure of the simplest carbon-nitrogen double bond upon the α,β substitution is due to the combined electron-withdrawing effect of the nitrile group and the donor effect of the allyl group.