In the presence of light, I have read that, structures comprising π conjugated systems like retinol, straighten out from their curled positions, what phenomenon drives this behavior and why does this need to happen? I do understand that for proper π-orbital delocalization in the conjugated system, I would need the p orbitals of all the carbon atoms to be in the same plane, so staying straight would be an assistance, but what I fail to understand is that how does the absorption of light have anything to do with this?
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related http://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/46567/difference-between-thermal-reactions-and-photochemical-reactions also http://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/8910/why-does-the-energy-gap-for-%cf%80-%cf%80-transitions-shrink-with-the-size-of-the-pi-co – Mithoron Mar 07 '16 at 21:13
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but that still doesn't explain the straightening out...!! It does explain the decrease in discretization of molecular energy levels and a red shifted emission spectrum for larger molecules but definitely not why the molecules straighten out in the presence of light of specific energies. – ubuntu_noob Mar 08 '16 at 20:07