Title: selection rule
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - selection rule
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.S05549
Status: current

Definition
A rule that states whether a given transition is allowed or forbidden, on the basis of the symmetry or spin of the wavefunctions of the initial and final states.

Source
- PAC, 1996, 68, 2223. 'Glossary of terms used in photochemistry (IUPAC Recommendations 1996)' on page 2273 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199668122223)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/S05549/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/S05549/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/S05549/xml

Citation: Citation: 'selection rule' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.S05549
License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms.
Collection: If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org .
Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-07-02T14:43:43+00:00