In view of the recent interest in the polar effects of substituents on the di-a-methane rearrangement'and the intriguing diversion therefrom of the the photorearrangement of triptycenes to give carbene intermediates, 2 it seemed to be high time to investigate the photochemical behavior of 1-azatriptycene (l), the first example of the di-n-methane system carrying the heteroatom at the methane position. An intriguing question about 1 is which ...