  Boron-Nitrogen (B-N) Lewis adducts form a versatile family of compounds with
numerous applications in functional molecules. Despite the growing interest in
this family of compounds for optoelectronic applications, little is currently
known about their photophysics and photochemistry. Even the electronic
absorption spectrum of ammonia borane, the textbook example of a B-N Lewis
adduct, is unavailable. Given the versatility of the light-induced processes
exhibited by these molecules, we propose in this work a detailed theoretical
study of the photochemistry and photophysics of simple B-N Lewis adducts. We
used advanced techniques in computational photochemistry to identify and
characterize the possible photochemical pathways followed by ammonia borane,
and extended this knowledge to the substituted B-N Lewis adducts
pyridine-borane and pyridine-boric acid. The photochemistry observed for this
series of molecules allows us to extract qualitative rules to rationalize the
light-induced behavior of more complex B-N containing molecules.
