A series of group V arylammonium, arylphosphonium, and arylarsonium salts have been synthesized and their photochemical behavior investigated. Direct irradiation of the onium salts in acetonitrile provided photoproducts that were dependent on the magnitude of the nuclear hyperfine coupling constant of the heteroatom rather than spin-orbit coupling. The ammonium and phosphonium salts provided only out-of-cage coupling products while the ...
