The Fundamentals of Photochemistry was primarily written as a university level textbook to introduce the subject to undergraduate, postgraduate and research students in the field of photophysics, photochemistry and photobiology. The book presents concepts, facts and theories of photophysical and photochemical phenomena in a complete and lucid manner. Photochemical reactions occur in the electronically excited states which, because of their multiplicity, provide many pathways for the reaction to follow. The creation and detection of excited states and their physical and chemical properties have been discussed from their fundamentals. An attempt has been made to emphasize the importance of spectroscopy and group theory in understanding photochemistry. The book stresses the importance of the Frank- Condon principle in radiative and non-radiative transfer of energy. It also emphasizes the nature and role of singlet oxygen in photo-peroxidation, atmospheric photochemistry and environmental photochemistry. The importance of the subject has gained added dimensions with intensive researches in the field of solar energy utilization and advances in laser technology and their applications. The first printing of the book in 1978 was well received, not only in India but also in other countries such as Canada, USA, Europe and Egypt. Some of the comments were very encouraging. The material is designed to initiate the readers to actual study of a known photochemical reaction from simple observations to more sophisticated experiments in order to establish the mechanistic details of a reaction. It is expected that such an approach will promote the basic understanding of the methodology and an appreciation for the use of sophisticated instruments needed in photochemical studies. The pace of development in the field has been very fast and more could not be included because of the constraint of keeping the size of the book within limits. A new Appendix on Values of Important Constants (N, E and R), Logarithmic and other tables have been added in this i.e., the Fourth Edition. All the mistakes which were inadvertently left in the last edition have been corrected in this edition.

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