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CORRESPONDENCE Early History of Laser Flash Photolysis' In a recent Account2on the reactions of 1,4-biradicals I made the following statement with reference to Porter and Topp's3 1970 work on laser flash photolysis: "Since the initial publication on the application of laser techniques to the measurement of transient optical absorptions ...". It was soon brought to my attention4that the statement was in error, since Danziger, Bar-Eli,and Weiss6had reported in 1967 on the use of laser techniques in which a time resolution of 0.5 p s had been achieved. On closer examination of the historical background I found several other reports that make it desirable to expand on the historical situation. The first publications I could find were a 1965 report by Kosonocky et al.: followed in 1966 by a study by Lindqvist' in which a resolution of ca. 100 ns was
achieved; it would seem that these papers were published before any of the reports that followed had been submitted. Porter had in fact two publications*on the subject before the 1970 detailed r e p ~ r t . ~In addition, several other groupse18 published contributions on the subject in the 1967-1970 period, frequently claiming time responses in the 10-100-ns range. Judging from the various lasers employed and the different-and indeed innovativeapproaches used in the detection systems it is clear that the technique was being independently developed in at least six or seven laboratories. Interestingly, the detection system and optical arrangement commonly used nowadays strongly resemble Lindqvist's 1966 version.
(1) h u e d as NRCC-21343. (2) Scaiano, J. C. Acc. Chem. Res. 1982,15, 252-258. London, Ser. A 1970,315, (3) Porter, G.; Topp, M. R. Proc. R. SOC. 173-184. (4) W e b , K., Northeastern University, personal communication. (5) Danziger, R. M.; Bar-Eli, K. H.; Weies, K. J.Phys. Chem., 1967, 71,2633-2640. (6) Kmnocky, W. F.; Harrison,S. E.; Stander, R. J. Chem. Phys., 196S, 43, 831-833. A brief reference had been made even earlier: Braunbeck, J. Znt. Aerosp. Abstr. 1964, 4, 1623. (7) Lindqvist, L. C. R. Hebd. Seances Acad. Sci., Ser. C 1966, 263, 852-854. (8) Porter, G. Nobel Symp. 1967,5,141-164. Porter, G.; Topp, M. R. Nature (London) 1968,220, 1228-1229. (9) Lalanne, J.-R.; Piaud, J.-J. C. R.Hebd. Seances Acad. Sci., Ser. B 1967,264,939-940. Lalanne, J.-R. Zbid. 1967,264, 526529. (10) Novak, J. R.; Windsor, M. W. J. Chem.Phys. 1967,47,3075-3076; Science (Washington, D.C.)1968,161,1342-1343; Proc. R. SOC.London, Ser. A 1968,308,95-110. (11) Thomas, J. Kk. J. Chem. Phys. 1969,51,770-778. Richards, J. T.;West, G.;Thomas,J. K. J. Phys. Chem. 1970,74,4137-4141. McNeil, R.; Richards, J. T.; Thomas,J. K. Zbid. 1970, 74, 2290-2294.
(12) Bonneau, R.; Faure, J.; Joussot-Dubien, J.; Lindqvist, L.; Barthhlemi, C. C. R. Hebd. Seances Acad. Sci., Ser. B (Paris), 1968,26, 412-415. Bonneau, R.; Joussot-Dubien, J.; Bensasson, R. Zbid. 1969,3, 353-356. (13) Kliger, D. S.;Albrecht, A. C. J.Chem. Phys. 1969,50,4109-4111; 1970,53,4059-4065. (14) MtUer, A. 2.Natursforsch., A 1968,23A, 946948. MGller, A.; Pfltlger, E. Chem. Phys. Lett. 1968,2,155-159. (15) Goldechmidt, C. R.; Ottolenghi, M.; Stein,G. Ier. J. Chem. 1970, 8, 2*36. Goldschmidt, C. R.; Ottolenghi, M. J. Phys. Chem. 1970, 74, 2041-2042; Chem. Phys. Lett. 1970,4,570-572. (16) Witt, H. T. Nobel Symp. 1967,5, 81-97.
J. C. Scaiano
Division of Chemistry National Research Council Ottawa, Canada K I A OR6
OOOl-4842/83/0116-0234$01.50/0 0 1983 American Chemical Society
