PHOTOCHEMISTRY OF ORGANIC-MOLECULES IN MICROSCOPIC REACTORS

The photochemistry of dibenzyl ketone and its derivatives has been employed to investigate the ability of zeolite molecular sieves to modify and to control the reaction channels available to organic molecules adsorbed on the internal and external zeolite surface. It is found that the observed photochemistry is very sensitive to the size/shape characteristics of the substrate ketones and of the pores and internal void space of the zeolites. Although unprecedented reactions of ketones have been found to be induced by absorption of the ketones on the zeolite surfaces, the reactions are consistent with expectations based on the topological structure of the zeolite surfaces and on the mechanism of ketone photolysis in homogeneous solution.