As a model for riboflavin, lumiflavin was investigated using density functional theory methods (B3LYP/6-31G* and B3LYP/6-31+G**) with regard to the proposed cascade of intermediates formed after excitation to the triplet state, followed by electron-transfer, proton-transfer, and radical-radical coupling reactions. The excited triplet state of the flavin is predicted to be 42 kcal/mol higher in energy than the singlet ground state, and the 7 radical anion lies 45.1 kcal/mol lower in energy than the ground-state flavin and a free electron in the gas phase. The former value compares to a solution-phase triplet energy of 49.8 kcal/mol of riboflavin. For the radical anion, the thermodynamically favored position to accept a proton on the flavin ring system is at N-5. A natural population analysis also provided spin density information for the radicals and insight into the origin of the relative stabilities of the six different calculated hydroflavin radicals. The resulting 5H-LF. radical can then undergo radical-radical coupling reactions, with the most thermodynamically stable adduct being formed at C-4'. Vibrational spectra were also calculated for the transient species. Experimental time-resolved infrared spectroscopic data obtained using riboflavin tetraacetate are in excellent agreement with the calculated spectra for the triplet flavin, the radical anion, and the most stable hydroflavin radical.