Light activation for the versatile and accurate kinetic analysis of disassembly of self-immolative spacers

Three procedures that rely on photoactivation are introduced to accurately analyze the disassembly kinetics of a collection of self-immolative spacer groups within the window 10(-2)-10(3) s. Our results are relevant for deriving quantitative structure-property relationships. In particular, we have been able to access 20 ms temporal resolution, which made possible the measurement of the shortest ever reported disassembly time for an activated self-immolative spacer.