Supramolecular photochemistry. A paradigm for the 1990s?

The emerging field of supramolecular chemistry, which involves ''chemistry beyond the molecule'' and which emphasizes non-covalent intermolecular bonding and structures, also provides an intellectual basis for a new vision of photochemistry, namely supramolecular photochemistry. Supramolecular photochemistry embraces not only the principles of supramolecular chemistry, but also the principles of supramolecular physics which deal with the influence of static and fluctuating electric and magnetic fields on photochemical reactions. Thus, the combination of intermolecular forces, sometimes quite weak individually but strong cooperatively, and electrical and magnetic forces ''beyond the molecule'' provide exciting opportunities to control the course of new photochemical reactions and to investigate important examplar reactions in novel ways.