Manipulating Excited State Chemistry in Molecules and Materials, from Asymmetric Photocatalysis to Programmed Photodegradation of Biomass Derived Materials: An Exploratory Journey Towards Sustainability

The presentation will highlight our journey in using light as a reagent to initiate chemical reactions and as a product of excited state processes. Strategies that rely on molecular restrictions, non-bonding interactions and confinement will be emphasized in different systems to alter reactivity, selectivity and specificity during light induced transformations. The presentation will feature (as time permits) some of the ongoing efforts in the group on different research themes: a) enantioselective organophotocatalysis—an alternative strategy to the conventional approaches currently employed for enantioselective photoreactions/photoredox catalysis; and b) programmed degradation of materials/polymers/oligomers derived from sustainable sources with light.