Woelm Eschwege, 1 mm, ether). The structures of five products were characterized by a combination of spectroscopic methods and also-in the case of ( 7) and (8)by comparison of melting points with those of authentic material.
The formation of ( 6) and ( 7) from ( I ) constitutes the first reported examples of dealkylation by photooxygenation of an heterocycle. Similar dealkylation or dearylation reactions have not been observed for phenyl-substituted pyrrole~[~.
We assume that the products (3), ( 6), (7), and ( 8 ) are formed in the manner quoted. The postulated route (5)-( 7) is supported by the decomposition of the tertbutoxy radical to acetone and methyl radica1"'l. We formulate ( 4 ) on the basis of the hydroperoxide['61 isolated in the photooxygenation of 2,5-dimethylfuranL' 'I; however, it has not been reported to demethylate to an analog of ( 6).
(3) and ( 8) could be formed in the same way as their analogs in the photooxygenation of 2,3,4,5-tetraphenyl-pyrr~le'~'. We cannot as yet ascribe a simple mechanism to the formation of the rather surprising structure (9). Mechanistic details of these reactions are currently under investigation.
or for alkylated furans[14-i61.