Time-resolved studies of photoinduced processes in room temperature ionic liquids

This review summarizes the photophysical studies carried out in room temperature ionic liquids with explicit focus on those involving time-resolved measurements. Different types of photoinduced processes studied in ionic liquids are discussed with a view to understand the influence of ionic liquids in guiding the course of individual photo-reaction/process and to elucidate the difference between ionic liquids and conventional molecular solvents in this regard. Before entering into a general discussion of photoinduced proceeses, a short introductory note on ionic liquids and their important solvent properties are delineated. Various photoprocesses like photoinduced electron transfer, solvation and rotational dynamics, photoisomerization, excited state energy transfer, proton transfer and other reactions are discussed at length. The review concludes with an assessment of the future scope and further studies on this subject