Issue 5, 2016

From curiosity to applications. A personal perspective on inorganic photochemistry

Abstract

Over the past several decades, the photochemistry and photophysics of transition metal compounds has blossomed from a relatively niche topic to a major research theme. Applications arising from the elucidation of the fundamental principles defining this field now range from probing the rates and mechanisms of small molecules with metalloproteins to light activated molecular machines. Offered here is a personal perspective of metal complex photochemistry drawn from this author's long involvement with this field. Several examples are described. Topics include characterizing key excited states and tuning these to modify chemical reactivity and/or photoluminescence properties, as well as using photoreactions as an entry to reactive intermediates relevant to homogeneous catalysts. This is followed by discussions of applying these concepts to developing precursors and precursor–antenna conjugates for the photochemical delivery of small molecule bioregulators to physiological targets.

Graphical abstract: From curiosity to applications. A personal perspective on inorganic photochemistry

Article information

Article type
Perspective
Submitted
14 Jan 2016
Accepted
12 Feb 2016
First published
12 Feb 2016
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2016,7, 2964-2986

Author version available

From curiosity to applications. A personal perspective on inorganic photochemistry

P. C. Ford, Chem. Sci., 2016, 7, 2964 DOI: 10.1039/C6SC00188B

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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