Ultrafast photoprotective properties of the sunscreening agent octocrylene

Today octocrylene is one of the most common molecules included in commercially available sunscreens. It provides broadband photoprotection for the skin from incident UV-A and UV-B radiation of the solar spectrum. In order to understand how octocrylene fulfils its role as a sunscreening agent, femtosecond pump-probe transient electronic UV-visible absorption spectroscopy is utilised to investigate the ultrafastnonradiative relaxation mechanism of octocrylene in cyclohexane or methanol after UV-B photoexcitation. The data presented clearly shows that UV-B photoexcited octocrylene exhibits ultrafast-nonradiative relaxation mechanisms to repopulate its initial ground state within a few picoseconds, which, at the very least, photophysically justifies its wide spread inclusion in commercial sunscreens.