Photochemistry Essentials

Written by Professor Scaiano, the Canada Research Chair in Applied Photochemistry at the University of Ottawa, Photochemistry Essentials is a concise introduction aimed at researchers and students who want to learn the essential principles of photochemistry, how to use light as a tool, and how to apply the concepts of photochemistry to their research.

Photochemistry and photophysics are as old as our planet Earth. Photosynthesis in plants and vision in our eyes are natural examples of their importance. This book entitled "Photochemistry and Photophysics - Fundamentals to Applications" presents various advanced topics that inherently utilize core concepts of photochemistry and photophysics. There are eleven chapters in this book, which are divided into four 'parts'. While the first and second parts contain chapters describing the fundamentals of photochemistry and photophysics, respectively, the third part is on computational photochemistry. The last part deals with applications of photochemistry and photophysics. The goal of this book is to familiarize both research scholars and postgraduate students with recent advances in this exciting field.

This text is aimed at final year undergraduates, beginning postgraduates, and those requiring a fundamental knowledge of photophysical and photochemical processes. The first two chapters provide an introduction to the more physical and quantitative aspects of the subject. More advanced topics concerned with the interaction between matter and radiation, molecular photophysics, and emission quenching are considered in the following three chapters. Difficult concepts are presented from a qualitative (pictorial) point of view rather than a purely mathematical one and a quantum rather than a classical approach is adopted throughout. The photochemical reactions of organic compounds are classified according to chromophore type (i.e. ethenes, dienes, and ethynes, carbonyl compounds, aromatic compounds, chromophores containing nitrogen, and other organic chromophores). However, in view of the importance of photo-oxygenation processes, this is considered as a separate topic in the final chapter.

Molecular photochemistry has garnered significant interest of researchers and scholars across the globe. This book has been compiled with the intention of addressing utilization of basic fundamentals and principles to more complex concepts in various fields of photochemistry. It is unique in its approach in comparison to various classical books on photochemistry which provide detailed accounts limited only to the basics of molecular photochemistry. There has been an overview on the core concepts used in diverse spheres of photochemistry which are not easily accessible. The aim of this text is to update academicians, students and experts actively involved in the field of molecular photochemistry. Latest developments have been highlighted and different functions of the technology in solution, metal oxides, biology, computational aspects and other applications have been dealt with. This book presents a unique overview on photochemistry.