Photophysics and kinetics of naphthopyran derivatives,part 1: General analytical solutions for the kinetics of AB(k,ϕ) and ABC(k,ϕ) systems

A new formalism allowing solution of the differential equations for kinetic systems comprising three species (ABC) linked by first‐order thermal and/or photochemical reactions is proposed. The approach is developed specifically with photochromic materials in mind, but the formalism developed is shown to be applicable to a variety of kinetic systems irradiated with monochromatic light where the photokinetic factor ( F ) is constant. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 37: 162–174, 2005