Mauser diagram

Mauser developed a method for the mathematical analysis of the kinetics of complex reaction systems, " which can apply here because the reactions at different sites are kinetically independent. As simple graphic instruments, the Mauser diagrams are useful for determining how many kinetically independent reactions (s) occur in the reaction system (the three elementary reactions in Scheme I are not independent). 

Mauser diagrams are very versatile. Every wavelength-dependent property can be used for their construction, e.g., the refractive index or, for optically active photoresponsive molecules, the ellipticity, a property quite sensitive to asymmetric perturbations of the environment. An example is given in Figure 1.6," which shows that on fixation of the azo steroid in PMMA, an optically inactive matrix, the sites are not equivalent. 

The photoinduced and thermal isomerization reactions are nearly perfectly reversible, and side reactions are virtually absent. In de-aerated hydrocarbon solution, azobenzene can be irradiated for days with near UV or visible radiation without any change of absorbance after the photostationary state is established. Under air, the only side reaction is a very slow oxidation to azoxybenzene. This can be checked without much effort by Mauser diagnostics (Section 1.2.2.3). For most azobenzenes, the application of absorbance diagrams gives perfectly straight lines, indicating that the isomerization is the only reaction (Figure 1.4). This fact warrants the use of azobenzene as a convenient actinometer. ... 

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