Spotlights on Recent JACS Publications

摘要

Chemists have long sought new ways to create energy-rich fuels-ideally via reactions powered by a renewable resource such as the sun. But scientists still have a lot to learn about solar-powered reactions, and a new study by Thomas Eisenhart and Jillian Dempsey sheds light on how they occur (DOI: 10.1021/ja505755k). The proton-coupled electron transfer reaction (PCET) is a key light-driven step in the conversion of small molecules into energy-rich fuels. Although prior research has provided a basic understanding of PCET reactions between molecules in their ground states, much less is known about the reactions between electronically excited molecules.