Dissociation of chlorobenzene via the lowest singlet excited state has been investigated by means of pump-probe femtosecond spectroscopy and spin-orbit corrected ab initio quantum chemistry. We have found that the so far accepted model with a (1)pi pi* -> (3)pi/n sigma* reaction mechanism has to be amended. We suggest that the mechanism goes via a transition from (1)pi pi* to a pi sigma* state that is to 90% a singlet. Further, three nuclear degrees of freedom required to describe the dissociation have been defined. (c) 2008 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.