The photochemical reaction channels of cyclobutanone have been studied at the CASSCF level with a 6-31G* basis set. Starting from the n-π* excited-state (S1) cyclobutanone, the three reactions can take place: decarbonylation (produce CO and cyclopropane or propylene), cycloelimination (produce ketene and ethylene), and ring expansion (produce oxacarbene). Our computation indicates that decarbonylation products CO and triplet trimethylene are formed on the triplet n-π* excited state (T1) in a stepwise way via a biradical intermediate after intersystem crossing (ISC) to T1 from S1. And, then, the triplet trimethylene undergoes a second ISC to the ground state (S0) to produce the singlet trimethylene from which cyclopropane can be produced rapidly only overcoming a 1 to 2-kcal/mol barrier while propylene can be formed as a secondary product. The cycloelimination products ketene and ethylene are formed on the S0 in a concerted mechanism after internal conversion (IC) to S0 from S1 via a biradical conical intersection. The reaction channels corresponding to ring expansion on the S0, T1, and S1 states have also been discussed, and the likeliest reaction path is that oxacarbene is formed on the ground state following S1/S0 internal conversion. The surface topology of cyclobutanone on the S1 surface is characterized by a transition state separating the minimum from the S1/S0 conical intersection, which is consistent with the previous computations and can explain the wavelength dependence of the fluorescence emission yield. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2004 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]