Photoinduced Processes in DNA: Basic Theoretical and Experimental Features

This chapter is intended to provide a concise overview of some basic and general concepts of photophysics/photochemistry useful for the understanding of the following chapters. After a general and easy introduction to the theoretical basis of the interaction between light and molecules, we shall briefly describe the principle of the most used steady-state and time-resolved experimental spectroscopy techniques. Then we shall introduce the most used analytical techniques to quantify and characterize the photodamage and describe the main biological phenomena associated with DNA damage and repair.