BIOINSPIRED CATALYSIS FOR SUSTAINABLE LIGHT-INDUCED PROCESSES

“Do as nature, work as nature, and produce as nature’ is the only way to solve the problems of our humanity: energy, food, and environment.”
Prof. Bao-Lian Su, ScienceWatch.com, 2008

The constant emission of toxic pollutants generated by industry has overwhelmed nature. An era of environmental awareness has begun, and it is the researcher who is at the forefront of this battle seeking better and greener ways to solve the problem of pollution. It is the goal of this project to provide means to create methods for both generating greener production of valuable chemicals and degradation of organic compounds. Although both ideas seem contradictory, a chemist sees them as complex organic reactions that require a imagination and determination to succeed. To address the sustainability issues, we will examine vitamin B₁₂ as a natural, nontoxic catalyst for light-induced organic transformations, which, in due course, will enable design of new systems for environment remediation. Parallel synthetic work, development of photocatalysts, and mechanistic investigations conducted by Prof. Gryko, Su, Hisaeda, and Miranda will assure the timely progress of the project.

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