Abstract
Photochemical reactions of saccharin with tertiary amines were explored. Saccharin was found to undergo an acid-base reaction with N-trimethylsilylmethyl-N,N-diethyl amine to form N-trimethylsilylmethyl-N,N-diethyl ammonium saccharin salt which is in equilibrium with free saccharin and N-trimethylsilylmethyl-N,N-diethyl amine insolution. Photoreaction of N-trimethylsilylmethyl-N,N-diethyl ammonium saccharin in $CH_3OH\;or\;CH_3CN$ results in the generation of desilylmethylated product, N,N-diethyl ammonium saccharin mainly along with benzamide. Photoreaction of N-methylsaccharin with N-trimethylsilylmethyl-N,N-diethyl amine in $CH_3OH$ leads to the production of o-(N-methylcarbamoyl)-N-ethylbenzenesulfonamid e as the major product along with N-methylbenzamide as the minor product. On the other hand, photoreaction of N,N,N-triethyl ammonium saccharin, generated from saccharin and triethylamine, produces N-methylbenzamide as the exclusive product. These photoreactions are quenched by oxygen indicating that triplets of saccharin and N-methylsaccharin are the reactive excited states. Based on the consideration of the redox potentials of saccharin and N-trimethylsilylmethyl-N,N-diethyl amine, and the nature of photoproducts, pathways involving initial triplet state single electron transfer are proposed for photoreactions of the saccharins with the ${\alpha}$-silylamine.