The photolysis of acetone

Abstract

The literature dealing with the primary processes in the photolysis of acetone with ultra-violet light has been reviewed and the important areas where reliable data exists have been identified. Gaps in the knowledge necessary for a complete description of the process have also been noted and measurements have been made which made possible a much fuller description of the primary process. An apparatus has been constructed which measures the light emission from the excited states formed by electronically excited acetone and the effect of temperature, acetone pressure, oxygen, iodine and Xenon on the excited states has been measured. Quantum yields of methyl iodide from the photolysis of acetone at 3130A have been measured by a technique devised specially for this work and by combining these results with the light emission work an over-all mechanism has been produced which embraces both sets of data. The role of the triplet excited state has been shown to be more important than was postulated before this work commenced, and the results obtained indicate that the mechanism of the primary process must be more complex than previous workers had supposed.