Photodegradation of pyridylketoximes in methanolic solutions under UV–Vis radiation

Photodegradation of the oximes of alkyl-2-, -3-, and -4-pyridylketones and identification of possible degradation products using LC–MS/MS and GC–MS techniques were performed. The influence of copper(II) and iron(III) ions on the stability of the oxime under UV–Vis radiation exposure were also studied. It was found that the photodegradation of the pyridylketoximes resulted in the photoisomerization, photofragmentation and photosubstitution to a pyridine ring. Based on these results, a hypothetical mechanism of photodegradation of pyridylketoximes was proposed.