Energy and Molecules from Photochemical/Photocatalytic Reactions. An Overview
PhotoGreen Lab, Department of Chemistry, University of Pavia, via Taramelli 12, Pavia 27100, Italy
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Academic Editor: Pierre Pichat
Molecules 2015, 20(1), 1527-1542; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules20011527
Received: 5 November 2014 / Accepted: 7 January 2015 / Published: 16 January 2015
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photocatalysis)
Photocatalytic reactions have been defined as those processes that require both a (not consumed) catalyst and light. A previous definition was whether such reactions brought a system towards or away from the (thermal) equilibrium. This consideration brings in the question whether a part of the photon energy is incorporated into the photochemical reaction products. Data are provided for representative organic reactions involving or not molecular catalysts and show that energy storage occurs only when a heavily strained structure is generated, and in that case only a minor part of photon energy is actually stored (ΔG up to 25 kcal·mol−1). The green role of photochemistry/photocatalysis is rather that of forming highly reactive intermediates under mild conditions.
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Keywords:
photochemistry; photocatalysis; energy storage; green chemistry
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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Ravelli, D.; Protti, S.; Albini, A. Energy and Molecules from Photochemical/Photocatalytic Reactions. An Overview. Molecules 2015, 20, 1527-1542.
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