Aqueous photochemistry of diazen-1-ium-1,2,2-triolate (Angeli's anion) and (Z)-1[N-(3-aminopropyl)-N-(3-aminopropyl)amino]diazen-1-ium-1,2-diolate (DPTA NONOate) has been investigated by laser kinetic spectroscopy. In neutral aqueous solutions, a 266 nm photolysis of these diazeniumdiolates generates a unique spectrum of primary products including the ground state triplet ( 3 NO -) and singlet ( 1 HNO) nitroxyl species, and nitric oxide (NO · ). Formation of these spectrophotometrically invisible products is revealed and quantitatively assayed by analyzing a complex set of their cross-reactions leading to the formation of colored intermediates, the N 2 O 2 ·-radical and N 3 O 3 -anion. The experimental design employed takes advantage of the extremely slow spin-forbidden protic equilibration between 3 NO -and 1 HNO and the vast difference in their reactivity toward NO · . To account for the kinetic data, a novel combination reaction, 3 NO -+ 1 HNO, is introduced and its rate constant of 6.6 × 10 9 M -1 s -1 is measured by competition with the reduction of methylviologen by 3 NO -. The latter reaction occurring with 2.1 × 10 9 M -1 s -1 rate constant and leading to the stable, colored methylviologen radical cation is useful for detection of 3 NO -. The distributions of the primary photolysis products (Angeli's anion: 22% 3 NO -, 58% 1 HNO, and 20% NO · ; DPTA NONOate: 3% 3 NO -, 12% 1 HNO,and 85% NO · ) show that neither diazeniumdiolate is a highly selective photochemical generator of nitroxyl species or nitric oxide, although the selectivity of DPTA NONOate for NO · generation is clearly greater.