The photochemistry of uranyl: spin selectivity and magnetic effects

The very large range of photochemical reactions of uranyl conforms to certain general principles; and these are summarised, correlated, and from them the main types of photochemical reactions are classified. It is shown that the primary fundamental photoreactions of uranyl are selective with respect to electron spin and are therefore magnetosensitive. Magnetic effects are found to occur in these reactions, including the most important, a magnetic isotope effect which is accompanied by the separation of uranium isotopes (magnetic ²³⁵U and nonmagnetic ²³⁸U). The bibliography includes 126 references.