Photoreduction of phenacyl halides (PhCOCH,X) by an NADH analogue, 10-methyl-9-acridone (AcrH,) in acetonitrile (MeCN) under irradiation of light ( h > 320 nm) proceeds via the rate-determining photoinduced electron transfer from the singlet excited state of AcrH, to PhCOCH,X to give the radical ion pair (AcrH2' PhCOCH,X-'). The subsequent fast reaction is completed within the complex by prqton transfer from AcrH,+' to PhCOCH,X-', followed by electron transfer from AcrH' t o PhC(OH)CH,X, yielding 1 0-methylacridinium ion (AcrH') and acetophenone (PhCOCH,). However, photoreduction of PhCOCH,X by another NADH analogue, 1 -benzyl-l,4-dihydronicotinamide (BNAH), in MeCN under irradiation with visible light of h >360 nm proceeds by a different reaction pathway; electron-transfer radical chain reactions, in which the chain carrier radicals are produced by photoinduced electron transfer from the singlet excited state of BNAH to PhCOCH,X. The origins of these different mechanistic pathways dependent on the NADH analogues are