Brominated methanes as photoresponsive molecular storage of elemental Br2.

The photochemical generation of elemental Br(2) from brominated methanes is reported. Br(2) was generated by the vaporization of carbon oxides and HBr through oxidative photodecomposition of brominated methanes under a 20 W low-pressure mercury lamp, wherein the amount and situations of Br(2) generation were photochemically controllable. Liquid CH(2)Br(2) can be used not only as an organic solvent but also for the photoresponsive molecular storage of Br(2), which is of great technical benefit in a variety of organic syntheses and in materials science. By taking advantage of the in situ generation of Br(2) from the organic solvent itself, many organobromine compounds were synthesized in high practical yields with or without the addition of a catalyst. Herein, Br(2) that was generated by the photodecomposition of CH(2)Br(2) retained its reactivity in solution to undergo essentially the same reactions as those that were carried out with solutions of Br(2) dissolved in CH(2)Br(2) that were prepared without photoirradiation. Furthermore, HBr, which was generated during the course of the photodecomposition of CH(2)Br(2), was also available for the substitution of the OH group for the Br group and for the preparation of the HBr salts of amines. Furthermore, the photochemical generation of Br(2) from CH(2)Br(2) was available for the area-selective photochemical bleaching of natural colored plants, such as red rose petals, wherein Br(2) that was generated photochemically from CH(2)Br(2) was painted onto the petal to cause radical oxidations of the chromophoric anthocyanin molecules.