Photoisomerization of the linear polyene 1,3,5,7-octatetraene has been observed in an n-hexane matrix maintained at the boiling point of helium. To a good approximation, only the transtrans and cistrans isomers participate in the photochemistry. These compounds have been unambiguously identified by comparing the observed high-resolution fluorescence spectra to those of chromatographically purified reference compounds. Although the quantum yield of this process is probably low, its microscopic rate seems to compete favorably with vibrational deactivation.The cis-trans photoisomerization of linear polyenes is of considerable interest because it provides a prototypical system for studying the coupling between electronic excitation and nuclear motion and because it plays a central role in a variety of photoprocesses, including visual transduction (1, 2). In the case of visual transduction, kinetic data have indicated that bathorhodopsin, the first photoproduct obtained when the pigment rhodopsin from dark-adapted vertebrate rod cells is irradiated, is also produced at a significant rate at liquid helium temperatures (3). Because this intermediate is supposed to arise, at least in part, from photoisomerization of the 11-cis retinal chromophore, the question of the extent to which such isomerizations can take place in condensed-phase low-temperature baths assumes some importance. Although it is difficult to envision large conformational changes in a low-temperature solid, the photoisomerization of rhodopsin (11-cis retinal) through intermediates to isorhodopsin (9-cis retinal) at 5.5 K has been observed (4). Here we would like to report the observation of photochemical cis-trans isomerization of the linear polyene 1,3,5,7-octatetraene in n-hexane at 4.2 K. The occurrence of photochemistry under the conditions that are needed to obtain vibrationally resolved electronic spectra should make detailed mechanistic studies possible.MATERIALS AND METHODS trans,trans-Octatetraene (all-trans) was synthesized as described by Evans (5) and was purified by recrystallization and sublimation. cis,trans-Octatetraene (monocis) was chromatographically isolated from a photolyzed undecane solution with a Waters Associates 201 high-pressure liquid chromatograph utilizing a Schoeffel 770 absorbance detector, a 4.6 X 250 mm column packed with Macherey-Nagel ALOX 60-D5 alumina, and Burdick and Jackson UV grade hexane.Room-temperature and 77 K fluorescence spectra were recorded on a Perkin-Elmer MPF-44A spectrofluorimeter. Fluorescence spectra at 4.2 K were obtained with a Jobin-Yvon HR1500 monochromator fitted with a 2400-lines/mm holographic grating, and a broad-band excitation source consisting of a 100-W high-pressure mercury lamp, f/8 optics, a NiSO4/CoSO4 Kasha filter (6), a Corning 9863 glass, a Schott UG1-1 glass, and a 10% Balzars neutral density filter. The Balzars filter was removed during photolysis.Absorbance spectra at 4.2 K were obtained by standard excitation techniques, utilizing a 1-m Jarrell-Ash monochromator with a...