Involvement of triplet state in the photodissociation of hydrogen peroxide: experimental evidence from time-resolved EPR study

The dissociation of photoexcited hydrogen peroxide to generate a pair of hydroxyl radicals is generally believed to take place in a repulsive electronic singlet state. The results presented here, based on time-resolved EPR experiments on the spin polarisation pattern of the acetone ketyl radical (CH3)2C•OH, generated on photodissociation of H2O2 in 2-propanol with a 248 nm laser light, strongly indicate significant involvement of a repulsive triplet state of excited hydrogen peroxide.