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Max-Planck-Institut für Kolloid- und Grenzflächenforschung / Aleksandr Savateev
Atomic structure of carbon nitride photocatalyst represented by spheres of different colors (the atoms). A molecule of S-acetylthiophenol (on the left) approaches the carbon nitride photocatalyst. When light of specific color (green, blue or violet) hits the surface, the carbon nitride photocatalyst converts the molecule of S-acetylthiophenol into diphenyldisulfide (highlighted with green beam), sulfonylamide (highlighted with blue light) or chlorobenzene (highlighted with violet light).
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Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces have developed a sustainable and "smart photocatalyst". The special feature: as a so-called smart material, it can distinguish between the colors of light (blue, red and green) and, in response, enables a specific chemical reaction programmed into it. "Our smart photocatalyst functions as a traffic guide who opens one specific pathway in response to light of specific color," says Dr. Yevheniia Markushyna, first author of the paper.
Photocatalysts are special materials that use the energy from sunlight or LED light to enable a desired reaction. Often, this results in not just one product, but a variety. Chemists call this "poor selectivity" because separation of the desired product from the mixture consumes time and resources.
Quite different with the new method developed at the Max Planck Institute, which enables the research team for instance to synthesize sulfonamides in a targeted manner. Sulfonamides are organosulfur compounds that are used, among other things, as antibiotics to treat bacterial infections. The researchers have created a photocatalytically active carbon nitride material that produces with high selectivity sulfonamides. With the help of the sustainable "smart photocatalyst," one product is created selectively from three possible from the same reagent by adjusting the color of the incident light. "The special feature is that we can control the selectivity of the chemical reaction by turning on the light bulb of the right color," says Dr. Yevheniia Markushyna. "Today, we have sustainable smart photocatalysts and the knowledge to produce value-added organic compounds using solar light in the most efficient way possible," says Dr. Aleksandr Savateev, group leader and head of the photocatalysis study recently published in the journal Angewandte Chemie. He adds, "Potentially, our method could also make the production of sulfonamide antibiotics more sustainable."
Complex biological objects, such as the human eye or state-of-the-art cameras in electronic devices can perceive light colors. It is a great challenge to develop "smart molecules" consisting of only tens of atoms. Such molecule must not only recognize the light colors (blue, red and green), but also perform a certain “programmed” action that depends on the specific light color.
In milliseconds from polluted to clear water
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces developed a membrane that is composed of a bundle of nanometer-sized tubes. They used it as a nanoreactor to convert water marked with methylene blue into clear water in milliseconds using sunlight as a driver. ‘Running reac ... more
Green Chemistry: Sustainable p-xylene production
Lemonade, juice and mineral water often come in PET bottles. While these are practical and functional, their production is complex and not necessarily sustainable. The starting material for terephthalic acid, which is used to produce saturated polyesters such as PET (Polyethylene terephthal ... more
Put into the right light - Reproducible and sustainable coupling reactions
A team of researchers reports in the journal Nature Catalysis that sustainable carbon-nitrogen cross-couplings can be performed using simple nickel salts, carbon nitrides and light. The chemists study the use of cost-effective and reproducible semiconductors as photocatalysts in coupling re ... more
With Light in the Fight against Malaria
Malaria represents a global threat to health, which is difficult to keep under control. Amongst more than 200 million sufferers, over 500,000 die each year of the disease, with the risk of a fatal outcome being particularly high in children [1]. more
born 1983, studied chemistry at the University of Regensburg and received his doctorate from the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, in the Department of Colloid Chemistry. Since Sept. 2011, he has been working as a post-doctoral fellow for Prof. Dr. Seeberger at the ... more
born 1966, studied chemistry at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, and received his doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Colorado. After holding a post-doctorate position at the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research in New York City, he was Assistant Professor and Fir ... more
Neuroscientists illuminate how brain cells deep in the cortex operate in freely moving mice
How can we see what neurons deep in the cortex are doing during behavior? Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Neurobiology of Behavior - caesar (MPINB) have developed a miniature microscope small enough to be carried on the head of a freely moving mouse and capable of measuring ... more
Researchers from Dresden and Vienna reveal link between connectivity of three-dimensional structures in tissues and the emergence of their architecture to help scientists engineer self-organising tissues that mimic human organs. Organs in the human body have complex networks of fluid-filled ... more
Back to the Future of Photosynthesis
The central biocatalyst in Photosynthesis, Rubisco, is the most abundant enzyme on earth. But how did Rubisco evolve, and how did it adapt to environmental changes during Earth’s history? By reconstructing billion-year-old enzymes, a team of Max Planck Researchers has deciphered one of the ... more
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