Photooxygenations and Self-Sensitizations of Naphthylamines: Efficient Access to Iminoquinones.

A series of spiro [fluorene-9,7′-dibenzo[c,h]acridine]-5′-one (SFDBAO) derivatives have been concisely and cleanly obtained by exposure to sunlight without external photosensitizers in the higher yields than that when using a UV lamp. An interesting autocatalyst and self-sensitive procedure have been proposed to explain the effective photooxygenation. SFDBAO derivatives exhibit the continuous <italic>π</italic>-stacks in single-crystal and electron-withdraw properties with red light-emitting and photovoltaic properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]