A Direct S₀ →T_n Transition in the Photoreaction of Heavy-Atom-Containing Molecules

According to the Grotthuss-Draper law, light must be absorbed by a substrate to initiate a photoreaction. There have been several reports, however, on the promotion of photoreactions using hypervalent iodine during irradiation with light from a non-absorbing region. This contradiction gave rise to a mystery regarding photoreactions involving hypervalent iodine. We demonstrated that the photoactivation of hypervalent iodine with light from the apparently non-absorbing region proceeds via a direct S₀ →T_n transition, which has been considered a forbidden process. Spectroscopic, computational, and synthetic experimental results support this conclusion. Moreover, the photoactivation mode could be extended to monovalent iodine and bromine, as well as bismuth(III)-containing molecules, providing new possibilities for studying photoreactions that involve heavy-atom-containing molecules.