Uploaded January 2019 | Updated September 2026, 5 days ago
Substrate… Complex… Light… action!🌞🌞
Today we want to talk about photocatalysis. This is an area of research that has received increasing interest during the last decade… but what is it?😎
We refer to photocatalytic reactions as the class of reactions where light is a key reagent for, combined with a catalyst, performing a chemical change in a given molecule. 💡 Being able to use light as a reagent has several advantages: sunlight is a unique natural resource that is inexpensive and a renewable source of clean energy.🌞Thus, in order to develop greener chemical processes, chemists have been putting efforts in learning how to use light to promote a desired reaction. However, this is not trivial: even though great progress has been made, often high-energy UV radiations are required and special photoreactors are used.
In the lab we develop novel methodologies for applying light to organic synthesis at small scale. Thus, we mix our different components in a glass vial and then we irradiate them with light for the desired period of time. Afterwards, product analysis is key to improve the reaction performance and fine-tune the reaction conditions in the next round of experiments.📈📊
The good news is that based on the knowledge acquired in the lab at small scale, the chemical industry is slowly adopting photochemical reactions for the large-scale production of fine chemicals. 😁 Let’s cross fingers for a greener future (chemically speaking)!😉🍂🍂🌍
Have a nice thursday!👋
#NCCR #NCCRmse #Science #Chemistry #Photocatalysis #Light
Substrate… Complex… Light… action!🌞🌞
Today we want to talk about photocatalysis. This is an area of research that has received increasing interest during the last decade… but what is it?😎
We refer to photocatalytic reactions as the class of reactions where light is a key reagent for, combined with a catalyst, performing a chemical change in a given molecule. 💡 Being able to use light as a reagent has several advantages: sunlight is a unique natural resource that is inexpensive and a renewable source of clean energy.🌞Thus, in order to develop greener chemical processes, chemists have been putting efforts in learning how to use light to promote a desired reaction. However, this is not trivial: even though great progress has been made, often high-energy UV radiations are required and special photoreactors are used.
In the lab we develop novel methodologies for applying light to organic synthesis at small scale. Thus, we mix our different components in a glass vial and then we irradiate them with light for the desired period of time. Afterwards, product analysis is key to improve the reaction performance and fine-tune the reaction conditions in the next round of experiments.📈📊
The good news is that based on the knowledge acquired in the lab at small scale, the chemical industry is slowly adopting photochemical reactions for the large-scale production of fine chemicals. 😁 Let’s cross fingers for a greener future (chemically speaking)!😉🍂🍂🌍
Have a nice thursday!👋
#NCCR #NCCRmse #Science #Chemistry #Photocatalysis #Light
