The lowest excited triplet state of acetone: zero-field splitting and kinetics

Abstract The lowest excited triplet state of acetone was investigated with a pulsed dye-laser-equipped ODMR spectrometer. The zero-field splitting parameters D = 4.8 GHz and E =1.3 GHz compare favourably with a recent ab initio calculation on bent triplet formaldehyde. The kinetic data indicate a suprisingly small rotation of the magnetic axis system.