Isolation and Synthesis of Fluorubine Derivatives

Significance

In the process of studying the cascade reactions of Δ^²-1,2-diazetines, such as 2, the authors discovered a highly fluorescent ­orange decomposition product which they determined to be compound 3. Derivatives of 3 exhibit high fluorescent quantum yields (67-100%) and are stable against oxidative damage. Photodecomposition of compound 2 only yielded traces amounts of 3; therefore, the authors desired and developed a more efficient synthesis of this family of compounds starting from 4 in order to study its properties.