Chemistry & Biochemistry		 CHM 598
Photochemistry
Spring 2005		 Ian R. Gould
PS D-109
965-7278
igould@asu.edu

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The main emphasis of this course is a discussion of contemporary methods of understanding basic photochemical and photophysical phenomena, from an organic chemical perspective. The course will be mainly in the form of formal lectures. The emphasis will be on photophysical phenomena, although the most important photochemical reactions of organic systems will also be described, from a mechanistic rather than preparative perspective. There will be no single course textbook.

Each week there will be assigned homework that you must hand in for grading, which is meant to give you practice in handling real life photochemical and photophysical problems. There will be a take-home midterm problem set, and also a final take-home problem set assignment. You will be given a letter grade for the course (A - E). Your grade will be determined by your performance on the homework and the assignments and attendance in class.

Here is a tentative list of topics we will attempt to cover, roughly in this order, and roughly one per week.

1. Electronic states of molecules and supermolecules, energy scale and timescale calibration, overview of photophysical and photochemical processes.
2. Detailed electronic states, VB and MO descriptions, paradigm sigma and pi bond cleavage, some real reactions.
3. Quantitative electronic absorption and emission spectroscopies.
4. Radiationless transitions, nonradiative decay and intersystem crossing.
5. Electron and energy transfer.
6. Photochemical light sources, techniques, time-resolved and steady-state emission, transient absorption, resonance Raman, photothermal methods.
7. Photochemical kinetics, time-resolved, steady-state, diffusionless, complex and reversible systems.
8. Reaction intermediates, radicals, biradicals, carbenes, ions, radical ions, ylides.
9. Determination of photochemical mechanisms, methods and examples.
10. Ketone photochemistry: Bond cleavage, hydrogen abstraction.
11. Alkene and arene photochemistry: Isomerization, addition and rearrangement.
12. Other reaction types: Exciplex/electron transfer, singlet oxygen.
13. Photosynthesis and vision.
14. Applications of photochemistry, photography, photopolymerization, photorefractive materials, solar energy conversion, PDT.
I reserve the right to alter this syllabus at any time.
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