Photochemistry of imidazolides. I. The photo-Fries-type rearrangement of N-substituted imidazoles.

A number of N-substituted imidazoles 1a–1i have been found to photo-isomerize to give the corresponding 2-substituted- and 4(or 5)-substituted imidazoles ( 2a–2i and 3a–3i ). The role of a dissociative path in these reactions has been demonstrated.