Abstract
The photochemical formation of oxetanes from different heterocycles have been investigated for many years in this laboratory. Thus far, only correlation between quenching effect of the heterocycles and capability of forming oxetanes have been established but no attempts have been made to elucidate from these data the different mechanistic pathways that lead from starting materials to product in various cases. In the light of kinetic as well as ionization potential information an attempt is made in this review to establish the mechanisms involved in these reactions. By means of the studies of the Stern-Volmer plots, the quenching constants of the reaction of Paternò-Büchi between substituted thiophene and selenophene with aromatic ketones and their relationship with the potentials of ionization of these heterocycles we can infer in the efficient synthesis of oxetanes.