Spectrophotometric Study of Photosensitized Rearrangement in N-Monoalkyl and N,N-Dialkyl Derivatives of Aniline

A comprehensive study was conducted to investigate the photosensitized reaction of N-methylaniline (NMA), N,N-dimethylaniline (DMA), and N,N-diethylaniline (DEA) in an aqueous alkaline medium under visible light, with benzophenone serving as the sensitizer. The investigation focused on exploring various parameters such as pH, sensitizer concentration, substrate concentration, light intensity, and solvent to elucidate their influence on the reaction rate. In addition, the quantum efficiency of the photosensitized rearrangement was evaluated using a potassium ferrioxalate actinometer. Furthermore, a plausible mechanism for the photosensitized reaction was proposed based on the obtained results.