The study of the light-induced behavior of various metal compounds. The physical and chemical properties of substances are generally altered by the absorption of light. Typical metal compounds have a characteristic number (coordination number) of molecules or ions (ligands) directly bonded to the metal center. For example a six-coordinate compound has the general formula ML6n+. Many of these compounds are colored, and much interest has been aroused by speculation that some metal compounds could mediate the transformation of solar radiation into useful chemical or electrical energy.
The photochemistry of metal compounds has grown in concert with modern theories of the electronic structure of molecules and of chemical bonding in molecules. Photochemical studies are often designed to probe and test these theories. The range of pertinent studies spans most of the subdisciplines of chemistry and includes or bears on such topics as photo-physics, the development of laser materials, catalysis, photo-synthesis, oxidation-reduction chemistry, acid-base chemistry, organometallic chemistry, metalloenzyme chemistry, solid-state chemistry, and surface chemistry. See also Chemical bonding; Chemical dynamics; Coordination chemistry; Laser photochemistry; Photochemistry.
