Innovations in Chemistry: Harnessing Light, Enzymes, and Radicals

Oxidative stress is an imbalance of free radicals and antioxidants in the body, a process potentially leading to cell and tissue damage, causing aging and illness. A plethora of adverts sell the beneficial effect of antioxidants to fight against these free radicals. But are they really that bad and cannot we do anything useful with them? Understanding free radicals requires a basic knowledge of chemistry. The reactivity of these unpopular species will be discussed from the perspective of an organic chemist, as well as their use in organic synthesis.

The first portion of the talk will get the listeners familiar with scientific notation and thinking of time in seconds. I will briefly discuss why materials science is very important and its impacts on our way of life, and I will introduce organic semiconductors, their potential applications, and their working principles. The second portion moves into describing light interactions with matter, an intuitive example of how we use these interactions to gather information about a material.

We are in the middle of a green revolution, and the chemical industry seems to still be one step behind. But that shouldn’t be the case!
We have the ‘magic powder’ to make them be ahead, to have a more sustainable and green chemical industry and allow for a more sustainable production. This ‘magic powder’ are immobilized biocatalysts. And don’t be scared about this fancy terms: the science behind is simple – take the tools that nature provides to us to accelerate chemical reactions and make it suitable for their industrial use.
It is time for a change – we need to immobilize to go forward!