The vacuum u.v. photolysis of 1 -butene was studied in the 147–105 nm region. The main products formed from the fragmentation of excited molecules are allene, 1,3-and 1,2-butadienes, ethylene, and acetylene. The addition of a hydrogen atom to the double bond produces mainly secondary butyl radicals (91%) at 147 nm. At 123.6 nm, this proportion becomes 82%. Thus at shorter wavelengths (10 and 11.6–11.8 eV), hydrogen atoms are produced with a kinetic energy higher than the thermal energy.