Photochemistry and Photophysics

This graduate-level course is about what molecules actually do once they absorb a photon — how an excited state forms, how long it survives, and which radiative, radiationless, or chemical pathway wins out before the molecule returns to the ground state. You'll work through the Jablonski diagram and selection rules in detail, apply them to canonical systems ranging from small organics like benzophenone and naphthalene to coordination complexes such as [Ru(bpy)3]2+, and consolidate the framework through two midterms, five problem sets, and a final. Building on undergraduate physical and inorganic chemistry, it gives you the vocabulary needed to read modern work on sensitizers, luminescent probes, solar energy conversion, and light-driven molecular machines.