Photoinduced rearrangements in transition metal compounds

In this contribution a range of photoinduced ligand rearrangements observed for the 1st and 2nd row transition metal and organometallic compounds are discussed. The processes discussed include photoinduced ligand exchange, linkage isomerisation and changes occurring within the coordination sphere of the compounds such as cis–trans and fac–mer isomerisations. The relevance of these processes for photocatalytic cycles or their application as synthetic tools is discussed where appropriate.