Instead, halogenated compounds are known to be photolabile due to their broader light absorption wavelengths and higher light absorption coefficients. Therefore, in order to accelerate and enhance depolymerization reactions, brominated species which are capable of photoinitiating and promoting free radical reactions, are usually employed to be incorporated into polymer chains. Bromination of lignin moieties can remarkably reduce their aggregation through  stacking due to steric hindrance, resulting in improved solubility in polar solvents. Furthermore, brominated aromatic species are known to trigger the formation of reactive oxygen species, potent molecules that can play crucial role in cleavage reactions. In light of the above considerations, we envisioned that simultaneous bromination and generation of phenacyl radicals in excess could facilitate photocleavage reactions and increase the solubility of SL through bromination, providing thus an efficient depolymerization process. In this work, we report the use of a simple and commercially available cheap organic photocatalyst, namely phenacyl bromide (PAB), for the photocatalyzed cleavage of 2-PAP and successive photo-depolymerization of SL under UV-A irradiation at ambient conditions. Contrary to most of the previously reported photocatalytic depolymerization reactions of lignin, this work does not involve the use of any expensive/toxic transition metal catalyst under inert atmosphere. Realtime nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) investigations of the photocleavage of the model compound (2-PAP) shed light on the possible photoreaction mechanism for the SL depolymerization reaction. Moreover, different spectral and chromatograhic methods including 1D/2D NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance), powder X-ray diffractography (PXRD) and size-exclusion chromatography (SEC), liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry (HR-LCMS) revealed the outstanding performance of PAB in the photo-depolymerization of SL. Thermal properties of SL and photo-depolymerized soda lignin (PSL) were compared using thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).