Abstract
The photophysical properties of benzil dissolved in free solution and in solution confined into a single bead of porous glasses (size < 100 μm) were investigated by femtosecond transient absorption microspectroscopy. In nonpolar solvent, cyclohexane, the rate of conformational change from the skewed to the near trans-planar form was reduced from 2.2 × 1012s-1 in free solution to 9.1 × 1011s-1 in porous glasses with an average pore diameter of 26 nm. In polar solvent, DMF, however, there was little difference between the two systems.