Introduction to photochemistry

Litter MI (2005) Introduction to photochemical advanced oxidation processes for water treatment. In Boule P, Bahnemann DW, Robertson PKJ (eds) Environmental Photochemistry Part II, vol 2. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, pp 325-366... 

The aim of this book is to provide an introduction to the principles and applications of photochemistry and it is generally based on my lectures to second and third-year undergraduate students at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). 

In the introduction to Volume 1 of this series, the founding editors, J. N. Pitts, G. S. Hammond and W. A. Noyes, Jr. noted developments in a brief span of prior years that were important for progress in photochemistry flash photolysis, nuclear magnetic resonance, and electron spin resonance. A quarter of a century later, in Volume 14 (1988), the editors noted that since then two developments had been of prime significance the emergence of the laser from an esoteric possibility to an important light source, and the evolution of computers to microcomputers in common laboratory use of data acquisition. These developments strongly influenced research on the dynamic behavior of the excited state and other transients. 

In the first six volumes the editors have not acted as censors. We have followed the principle set forth in the original introduction to this series, that is, the authors are free to make any statement they wish which cannot be proven wrong. We have solicited articles from experts who have strong personal points of view concerning fundamental aspects of photochemistry and spectroscopy. We have asked these authors to present their points of view through critical discussion and evaluation of existing data. In no sense have the articles been simply literature surveys although in some cases they have fulfilled both purposes. 

Chapter 14 deals with orbital correlation diagrams following Woodward and Hoffmann [3]. State wave functions and properties of electronic states are deduced from the orbital picture, and rules for state correlation diagrams are reviewed, as a prelude to an introduction to the field of organic photochemistry in Chapter 15. 

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