Title: photodegradation
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - photodegradation
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.P04595
Status: current

Definition
The photochemical transformation of a molecule into lower molecular weight fragments, usually in an oxidation process. This term is widely used in the destruction (oxidation) of pollutants by UV-based processes.

Related Terms
- molecular weight: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/M04000
- oxidation: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/O04362
- transformation: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/T06446

Source
- PAC, 1996, 68, 2223. 'Glossary of terms used in photochemistry (IUPAC Recommendations 1996)' on page 2260 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199668122223)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/P04595/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/P04595/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/P04595/xml

Citation: Citation: 'photodegradation' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.P04595
License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms.
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Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-07-23T21:20:20+00:00