The case of medium-dependent dual mechanisms for photoisomerization: One-bond-flip and Hula-Twist

Abstract
This paper critically reviews examples in the literature of photochemical cis-trans isomerization paying particular attention to the medium effect and accompanied conformational changes. A case is made that the Hula-Twist mechanism, postulated in 1985 as a photochemical reaction pathway for a polyene chromophore imbedded in a protein binding cavity such as those of rhodopsin and bacteriorhodopsin, is also a dominant reaction pathway for a diene, or a longer polyene confined in a rigid (relative to isomerization rate) medium. The conventional one-bond-flip process is the preferred reaction pathway in a fluid medium. While defining experiments are proposed, this dual mechanistic approach successfully accounts for all examples in the literature on photoisomerization reactions whether involving conformational changes or not.

This publication has 45 references indexed in Scilit: