Photoelectrocyclization Reactions of Amidonaphthoquinones

Readily
available acrylamide naphthoquinones can be converted into
the corresponding aza-anthraquinones using 6π-photoelectrocyclization
reactions. Not only do these reactions not proceed thermally but,
as demonstrated here, they can also be used to generate a range of
aza-anthraquinone and aza-tetracycline derivatives including the natural
products griffithazanone A and marcanine A. Several of the aza-anthraquinones
generated in this work showed antibacterial activity.