Roaming mechanism revealed in bromoform

Experiment provides evidence for long-debated roaming mechanism in photochemical reactions

14-Apr-2026 - The halomethane compound bromoform (CHBr3) has devastating effects on the ozone layer. In the upper layers of the atmosphere, bromoform reacts with UV radiation, releasing bromine molecules which destroy ozone molecules. This reaction, however, has long puzzled scientists; the molecules involved ...

Driving Reactions with Light – and without Solvents

Photochemistry: The correct movement facilitates light-driven reactions without the use of environmentally harmful solvents

14-Oct-2025 - Light is an environmentally friendly energy source for chemical reactions. However, large quantities of harmful solvents have been required to ensure that light, due to its poor penetration depth, reaches the areas where it is needed. Carolina Spula omits the use of solvents. As a doctoral ...

More effective production of “green” hydrogen with new combined material

26-Jun-2025 - The chemical reaction to produce hydrogen from water is several times more effective when using a combination of new materials in three layers, according to researchers at Linköping University in Sweden. Hydrogen produced from water is a promising renewable energy source – especially if the ...

What we really breathe in

Filtered car emissions turn toxic after sunlight exposure

02-Jun-2025 - A new international study led by Helmholtz Munich and the University of Rostock reveals that emissions from modern gasoline cars – despite meeting the currently strictest European emission standards EURO 6d – can become significantly more harmful after being released into the atmosphere. The ...

Novel UV Broadband Spectrometer Revolutionises Air Pollutant Analysis

The laser-based technology developed at TU Graz enables the continual real-time analysis of air pollutants and their interaction with other gases and sunlight

11-Apr-2024 - Sunlight has a major influence on chemical processes. Its high-energy UV radiation in particular is strongly absorbed by all materials and triggers photochemical reactions of the substances present in the air. A well-known example is the formation of ground-level ozone when UV light hits nitrogen ...

Using light to produce medication and plastics more efficiently

How the energy efficiency of photochemical reactions can be increased tenfold

20-Mar-2024 - Anyone who wants to produce medication, plastics or fertilizer using conventional methods needs heat for chemical reactions – but not so with photochemistry, where light provides the energy. The process to achieve the desired product also often takes fewer intermediate steps. Researchers from the ...

Nanoplastics unexpectedly produce reactive oxidizing species when exposed to light

10-Jan-2023 - Plastics are ubiquitous in our society, found in packaging and bottles as well as making up more than 18% of solid waste in landfills. Many of these plastics also make their way into the oceans, where they take up to hundreds of years to break down into pieces that can harm wildlife and the ...

Discovery overturns major assumptions in crystal photochemistry!

Molecular crystal exhibits propagation of photochemical reaction

14-Dec-2022 - Stimuli-responsive materials, whose physical properties change in response to external stimuli such as light and heat, are being widely studied as next-generation functional materials. Especially, photo-responsive materials are attracting much attention because their physicochemical properties ...

Making stable molecules reactive with light

Modulating the photocyclization reactivity of diarylethenes through changes in the excited-state aromaticity of the π-linker

15-Sep-2022 - Researchers at Linköping University have used computer simulations to show that stable aromatic molecules can become reactive after absorbing light. The results, published in the Journal of Organic Chemistry, may have long-term applications in such areas as the storage of solar energy, ...

PFAS chemicals do not last forever

The use of sulfite and iodide under ultraviolet light can destroy PFAS in water in a few hours

25-May-2022 - Once dubbed “forever chemicals,” per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, might be in the market for a new nickname. That’s because adding iodide to a water treatment reactor that uses ultraviolet (UV) light and sulfite destroys up to 90% of carbon-fluorine atoms in PFAS forever chemicals in ...