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. 2015 Apr 16;6(8):1363-8.
doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.5b00417. Epub 2015 Mar 30.

Probing the Ultrafast Energy Dissipation Mechanism of the Sunscreen Oxybenzone after UVA Irradiation

Lewis A Baker  1 , Michael D Horbury  1 , Simon E Greenough  1 , Philip M Coulter  2 , Tolga N V Karsili  2 , Gareth M Roberts  2 , Andrew J Orr-Ewing  2 , Michael N R Ashfold  2 , Vasilios G Stavros  1
Affiliations

Probing the Ultrafast Energy Dissipation Mechanism of the Sunscreen Oxybenzone after UVA Irradiation

Lewis A Baker et al. J Phys Chem Lett. .

Abstract

Oxybenzone is a common constituent of many commercially available sunscreens providing photoprotection from ultraviolet light incident on the skin. Femtosecond transient electronic and vibrational absorption spectroscopies have been used to investigate the nonradiative relaxation pathways of oxybenzone in cyclohexane and methanol after excitation in the UVA region. The present data suggest that the photoprotective properties of oxybenzone can be understood in terms of an initial ultrafast excited state enol → keto tautomerization, followed by efficient internal conversion and subsequent vibrational relaxation to the ground state (enol) tautomer.

Keywords: oxybenzone; sunscreens; transient absorption spectroscopy; ultrafast photochemistry.

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