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 ...

Stronger than Nature: Optimised Radicals as Potential Novel Catalysts

Research team redesigns phenoxyl radicals with improved oxidation capacity in the lab

18-Mar-2024 - Nature uses enzymes for various metabolic processes. These biological catalysts are extremely efficient. Biomimetic catalysts based on inexpensive starting materials from the laboratory that can reproduce the efficiency of the natural enzymes and can function at ambient conditions are therefore ...

New aluminium radical battery promises more sustainable power

Scientists hope to make the world’s first safe and efficient non-toxic aqueous aluminium radical battery

17-Jul-2023 - Teams from Flinders University in South Australia and Zhejiang Sci-Tech University in China have reported the first stage of developing these novel batteries in a new article published by the Journal of American Chemistry, the flagship journal of the American Chemical Society. Most batteries ...

Fine particulate matter catalyzes oxidative stress in the lungs

Study sheds new light on the adverse health effects of air pollution

22-May-2023 - A new study conducted by a team of scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPIC) reveals that the adverse health effects of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) are attributable to the conversion of peroxides into more reactive species such as the hydroxyl radical (OH) rather than 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 ...

A radical new approach in synthetic chemistry

Pulse radiolysis experiments help reveal how unpaired electrons at one end of a molecule can initiate chemistry at 'distant' locations

28-Nov-2022 - Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory helped measure how unpaired electrons in atoms at one end of a molecule can drive chemical reactivity on the molecule’s opposite side. As described in apaperrecently published in theJournal of the American ...

Rethinking indoor air chemistry

People generate their own oxidation field and change the indoor air chemistry around them

06-Sep-2022 - People typically spend 90 percent of their lives inside, at home, at work or in transport. Within these enclosed spaces, occupants are exposed to a multitude of chemicals from various sources, including outdoor pollutants penetrating indoors, gaseous emissions from building materials and ...

Light as a tool for the synthesis of complex molecules

Chemists at the University of Münster have developed a novel and straightforward way to produce complex organic molecules

05-Aug-2022 - Chemists at the University of Münster have developed a novel and straightforward way to produce complex organic molecules. Mild reaction conditions, simple operation, scalability and the use of an inexpensive and commercially available photosensitizer make the method interesting for industrial ...

Chemists develop new multi-component reaction

More environmentally friendly approach produces complex molecular structures in one step: Ketyl radicals "tamed" by photocatalysis

15-Jun-2022 - A more sustainable use of chemical resources is part of the United Nations' Agenda 2030. Synthetic chemists are therefore working to design and carry out efficient syntheses. Within the synthetic organic chemist's arsenal, processes that link several molecules (coupling partners) in a single step ...

How Is Haze Formed?

Soot as a surprising source of haze-building hydroxyl radicals: new perspectives for air purification and the energy industry

05-Apr-2022 - Haze is formed when a cocktail of various gaseous pollutants is oxidized and forms particulate matter diffusing sunlight. This process is mainly mediated by hydroxyl radicals (OH), and researchers have now discovered a new route to their formation. This newly discovered radical-building mechanism ...