THE PHOTOPHYSICS AND PHOTOCHEMISTRY OF THE NEAR-UV ABSORBING AMINO ACIDS–I. TRYPTOPHAN AND ITS SIMPLE DERIVATIVES

Abstract— The photophysics and photochemistry of tryptophan and its simple derivatives is comprehensively reviewed with special emphasis on excitation by near-UV radiation. Topics explicitly discussed include the origins of large Stokes shifts in the fluorescence spectra, photoionization, the puzzle of multiple tryptophan fluorescence decay time, photochemical reactions in the presence and absence of oxygen, and the possible mechanisms of these reactions. A separate section reviews the photosensitizing properties of N-formylkynurenine, an important photooxidation product of tryptophan.