Investigation of electronic structure of allenyl ethers by means of photoelectron and UV spectroscopy

A study of the photoelectron spectra of alkyl allenyl ethers has demonstrated their similarity to spectra of alkyl vinyl ethers, with the exception of a band in the 10.0–10.3 eV interval due to ionization of the -orbital of the allenyl fragment C=C. According to data obtained by photoelectron spectroscopy and MNDO quantum-chemical calculations, alkyl allenyl ethers with straightchain substituents exist primarily in the s-cis conformation. The stable conformation of allenyl tert-butyl ether is the s-trans form. The long-wave absorption bands in the UV spectra of alkyl allenyl ethers at 255–275 and 208–213 nm are assigned to electronic transitions of the ^* and ^{* *} types; these are quite insensitive to s-cis/s-trans isomerism.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 1, pp. 81–88, January, 1990.The authors are extremely grateful to V. K. Turchaninov for assistance in interpreting the spectra.