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Published on: May 21, 2019
The primary near-UV photochemistry of aqueous pyruvic acid
Jan Thøgersen1, Tobias Weidner1, Frank Jensen1
1Department of Chemistry, Aarhus University, Langelandsgade 140, Aarhus C DK-8000, Denmark. frj@chem.au.dk.
Abstract:
Near-UV photolysis of pyruvic acid results in decarboxylation within 0.8 ps. In contrast, pyruvate anions excited by near-UV light relax back to the ground state within 50 ps with no detectable photolysis. The sharply different behavior of the acid and its conjugate base provides a mechanistic explanation for the puzzling pH dependence of the pyruvic acid photolysis.
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