Abstract: In this work, a series of nitrone compounds have been synthesized. Some nitrones synthesized only have substituents on the phenyl rings connected with a-carbons, and the others are substituted on both phenyl rings. The obtained results indicate that for the former kind of nitrones, no matter what substituents are, either electron acceptor or electron donnor, the-photocyclization is accelerated. However, for the later kind, due to the formation of push-pull structure along the main frame of nitrone, the reaction rate decreases drastically. The results mentioned above are discussed preliminarily.

Key words: nitrone compound, photocyclization, photoinduced intramolecular charge transfer