Abstract: Protoporphyrin IX dimethyl ester (la) is photooxidized upon irradiation in aprotic organic solvents in the presence of oxygen to yield a mixture of hydroxyaldehydes (2 and 3)( photoprotoporphyrins), monoformylmonovinyldeuteroporphyrins (4 and 5). and diformyldeuteroporphyrin (6). Studies of the reaction under a variety of conditions show that the major portion of all of these products arises via a singlet oxygen path. The formyl ...