The limitations of the generally accepted photostationary approximation in the photochemistry of provitamin D resulting from the strong spectral dependence of the effectiveness of the irreversible channel were established theoretically by a simplified model. The results show clearly that disregard of the irreversible channel with low quantum yield in a system of reversible photochemical reactions over a wide spectral range is not always justified. As a result the approximation according to which the concentration of the main photoisomers of provitamin D is constant only holds in a specific region of the spectrum, and this must be taken into account during concentration analysis of the photoisomeric mixture.The wide range of monomolecular photoisomerizations in the synthesis of vitamin D has attracted the attention of investigators over many years. It is generally accepted that reversible photoreactions play a determining role in the kinetics of a photoreaction [scheme (1)]. In such a case it is clear that UV irradiation of the initial provitamin D (Pro) at a temperature excluding the formation of vitamin D leads to the formation of a mixture of the four principal photoisomers, between which a dynamic equilibrium -the so-called photostationary state (PS) -is established after a specific time.In spite of the fact that irreversible phototransformations of previtamin D (Pre) are also known [1, 2], it is usually considered that due to the low quantum yield (j » 0.039) [2] the products of the irreversible photoreactions (toxisterols, Tox) only accumulate in the mixture of photoisomers during prolonged exposure after complete conversion of the initial Pro. Therefore, the irreversible channel does not as a rule appear on the reaction scheme, but the presence of Tox is disregarded during concentration analysis of the photoisomeric mixture, and the total concentration of the four main photoisomers is taken as 100% [3][4][5][6].It was within the scope of the PS approximation [4] that a dramatic change was found in the calculated quantum yield of the photocyclization Pre®L within the limits of the narrow spectral range of 300-305 nm. Later on the "surprising" increase in the quantum yields of photocyclization and decrease in the quantum yield of cis-trans isomerisation of previtamin D received several different interpretations [7-9], but none of them was considered entirely satisfactory [10].Our spectral observations of the kinetics of the photoreaction during laser irradiation of provitamin D also revealed substantial differences in the kinetics in relation to the irradiation wave length [11]. During photoreaction initiation with the radiation from an XeCl excimer laser (l = 308 nm) it was found that the usual range of reversible photoreactions was blocked in favor of irreversible photoreactions with a lower quantum yield. Here careful analysis of the possible participation of two-quantum processes showed that they are not involved in the discovered "anomaly." 286 0040-5760/08/4405-0286