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Special Issue "New Trends in Photochemistry in Eurasia"

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A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Photochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2023) | Viewed by 8537

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Prof. Dr. Michael Moustakas

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Department of Botany, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: plant ecophysiology; biotic stress; abiotic stress; photosynthesis; antioxidative mechanisms; photoprotective mechanisms; mineral nutrition; ROS
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Ilektra Sperdouli

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Guest Editor

Institute of Plant Breeding and Genetic Resources, HAO-Demeter, Thermi, Greece
Interests: plant responses to abiotic stress; photoprotective and antioxidative mechanisms to abiotic stress; photosynthesis; secondary metabolites
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Dr. Georgia Ouzounidou

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Guest Editor

Institute of Food Technology, Hellenic Agricultural Organization- DEMETER, S. Venizelou 1 Str. 141 23 Lycovrissi, Attica, Greece
Interests: biotechnology; bioenergetic; chlorophyll fluorescence; environmental biology; fruit ripening biology; plant physiolgy; vegetable and fruit quality characteristics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that we are launching a Special Issue “New Trends in Plant Photochemistry in Eurasia” in the journal Molecules designed to publish high-quality papers in the research area of photochemistry. This Special Issue aims to highlight the recent advances in fundamental and applied research providing a comprehensive overview of new trends in the area of photochemistry in Europe and Asia. We invite researchers from institutes/laboratories throughout the whole Europe and Asia to contribute research articles, short communications, and review articles, highlighting interesting results in the field of photochemistry, that strengthen our understanding of this scientific area. We encourage Editorial Board Members from Europe and Asia to contribute by sending papers reflecting the latest progress in this research field or to invite relevant experts and colleagues to do so. Photochemistry is related to a wide range of science, including chemistry, physics, materials science, biology, and medicine. Potential topics include but are not limited to: interactions of UV and visible and IR radiation with molecules and materials, solar energy conversion, chlorophyll fluorescence, photoprotection, environmental stress, conformationally dependent reactions, ROS production and scavenging, Raman spectroscopy, triplet state, excitation energy, abiotic stress, biotic stress, light-harvesting complex (LHC), and new technologies in plant photochemistry.

Prof. Dr. Michael Moustakas
Dr. Ilektra Sperdouli
Dr. Georgia Ouzounidou
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

autofluorescence
chlorophyll fluorescence
light reactions
photosynthetic pigments
electron transport
excitation energy
oxidative stress
photophysics

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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28 pages, 5154 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Synthesis, Characterization, Fluorescence Properties, and DFT Modeling of Difluoroboron Biindolediketonates

and

Molecules 2023, 28(12), 4688; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28124688 - 10 Jun 2023

Viewed by 692

Abstract

We report a simple and efficient strategy to enhance the fluorescence of biocompatible biindole diketonates (bdks) in the visible spectrum through difluoroboronation (BF₂bdks complexes). Emission spectroscopy testifies an increase in the fluorescence quantum yields from a few percent to as much as >0.7. This massive increment is essentially independent of substitutions at the indole (-H, -Cl, and -OCH₃) and corresponds to a significant stabilization of the excited state with respect to non-radiative decay mechanisms: the non-radiative decay rates are reduced by as much as an order of magnitude, from 10⁹ s⁻¹ to 10⁸ s⁻¹, upon difluoroboronation. The stabilization of the excited state is large enough to enable sizeable ¹O₂ photosensitized production. Different time-dependent (TD) density functional theory (DFT) methods were assessed in their ability to model the electronic properties of the compounds, with TD-B3LYP-D3 providing the most accurate excitation energies. The calculations associate the first active optical transition in both the bdks and BF₂bdks electronic spectra to the S₀ → S₁ transition, corresponding to a shift in the electronic density from the indoles to the oxygens or the O-BF₂-O unit, respectively. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Trends in Photochemistry in Eurasia)

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11 pages, 2637 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Combined Experimental and Theoretical Investigation into the Photophysical Properties of Halogenated Coelenteramide Analogs

Ana Carolina P. Afonso

Patricia González-Berdullas

Joaquim C. G. Esteves da Silva

and

Luís Pinto da Silva

Molecules 2022, 27(24), 8875; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27248875 - 14 Dec 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 864

Abstract

Marine Coelenterazine is one of the most well-known chemi-/bioluminescent systems, and in which reaction the chemi-/bioluminophore (Coelenteramide) is generated and chemiexcited to singlet excited states (leading to light emission). Recent studies have shown that the bromination of compounds associated with the marine Coelenterazine system can provide them with new properties, such as anticancer activity and enhanced emission. Given this, our objective is to characterize the photophysical properties of a previously reported brominated Coelenteramide analog, by employing a combined experimental and theoretical approach. To better analyze the potential halogen effect, we have also synthesized and characterized, for the first time, two new fluorinated and chlorinated Coelenteramide analogs. These compounds show similar emission spectra in aqueous solution, but with different fluorescence quantum yields, in a trend that can be correlated with the heavy-atom effect (F > Cl > Br). A blue shift in emission in other solvents is also verified with the F–Cl–Br trend. More relevantly, the fluorescence quantum yield of the brominated analog is particularly sensitive to changes in solvent, which indicates that this compound has potential use as a microenvironment fluorescence probe. Theoretical calculations indicate that the observed excited state transitions result from local excitations involving the pyrazine ring. The obtained information should be useful for the further exploration of halogenated Coelenteramides and their luminescent properties. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Trends in Photochemistry in Eurasia)

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18 pages, 3885 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Rapid Removal of Organic Pollutants from Aqueous Systems under Solar Irradiation Using ZrO₂/Fe₃O₄ Nanoparticles

Nemanja Banić

Daniela Šojić Merkulov

and

Molecules 2022, 27(22), 8060; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27228060 - 20 Nov 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1090

Abstract

Pure water scarcity is an emerging, all-around problem that globally affects both the life quality and the world’s economy. Heterogeneous photocatalysis under solar irradiation is a promising technique for the organic pollutants (e.g., pesticides, drugs) removal from an aqueous environment. Furthermore, the drawbacks of commercially available photocatalysts can be successfully overcome by using innovative nanoparticles, such as ZrO₂/Fe₃O₄. Four ZrO₂/Fe₃O₄ nanopowders with a different mass ratio of ZrO₂ and Fe₃O₄ were synthesized using the chemical co-precipitation method. XRD analysis showed the presence of magnetite and hematite Fe-oxide phases in all samples. The content of the magnetite phase increased with the addition of 19% ZrO₂. The efficiency of the newly synthesized ZrO₂/Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles was investigated in the rapid removal of selected pollutants under various experimental conditions. Nevertheless, the influence of the water matrix on photocatalytic degradation was also examined. The obtained data showed that using ZrO₂/Fe₃O₄ nanosystems, an appropriate removal rate of the selected pesticides and pharmaceuticals can be reached after 120 min of solar irradiation. Further, the total organic carbon measurements proved the mineralization of the target emerging pollutants. ZrO₂/Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles are economically feasible, as their removal from the suspension can be easily achieved using affordable, environmentally-friendly magnetic separation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Trends in Photochemistry in Eurasia)

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16 pages, 3264 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Carbon Quantum Dots Bridged TiO₂/CdIn₂S₄ toward Photocatalytic Upgrading of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons to Benzaldehyde

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Molecules 2022, 27(21), 7292; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27217292 - 27 Oct 2022

Viewed by 1049

Abstract

Conversion of hazardous compounds to value-added chemicals using clean energy possesses massive industrial interest. This applies especially to the hazardous compounds that are frequently released in daily life. In this work, a S-scheme photocatalyst is optimized by rational loading of carbon quantum dots (CQDs) during the synthetic process. As a bridge, the presence of CQDs between TiO₂ and CdIn₂S₄ improves the electron extraction from TiO₂ and supports the charge transport in S-scheme. Thanks to this, the TiO₂/CQDs/CdIn₂S₄ presents outstanding photoactivity in converting the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) released by cigarette to value-added benzaldehyde. The optimized photocatalyst performs 87.79% conversion rate and 72.76% selectivity in 1 h reaction under a simulated solar source, as confirmed by FT-IR and GC-MS. A combination of experiments and theoretical calculations are conducted to demonstrate the role of CQDs in TiO₂/CQDs/CdIn₂S₄ toward photocatalysis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Trends in Photochemistry in Eurasia)

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12 pages, 2111 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sensitive, Selective and Reliable Detection of Fe³⁺ in Lake Water via Carbon Dots-Based Fluorescence Assay

and

Molecules 2022, 27(19), 6749; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27196749 - 10 Oct 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1393

Abstract

In this study, C-dots were facilely synthesized via microwave irradiation using citric acid and ethylenediamine as carbon precursors. The fluorescence emissions of the C-dots could be selectively quenched by Fe³⁺, and the degree of quenching was linearly related to the concentrations of Fe³⁺ presented. This phenomenon was utilized to develop a sensitive fluorescence assay for Fe³⁺ detection with broad linear range (0–250, 250–1200 μmol/L) and low detection limit (1.68 μmol/L). Most importantly, the assay demonstrated high reliability towards samples in deionized water, tap water and lake water, which should find potential applications for Fe³⁺ monitoring in complicated environments. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Trends in Photochemistry in Eurasia)

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13 pages, 34031 KiB

Open AccessReview

A Review on Optoelectronical Properties of Non-Metal Oxide/Diamond-Based p-n Heterojunction

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Molecules 2023, 28(3), 1334; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28031334 - 30 Jan 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1238

Abstract

Diamond holds promise for optoelectronic devices working in high-frequency, high-power and high-temperature environments, for example in some aspect of nuclear energetics industry processing and aerospace due to its wide bandgap (5.5 eV), ultimate thermal conductivity, high-pressure resistance, high radio frequency and high chemical stability. In the last several years, p-type B-doped diamond (BDD) has been fabricated to heterojunctions with all kinds of non-metal oxide (AlN, GaN, Si and carbon-based semiconductors) to form heterojunctions, which may be widely utilized in various optoelectronic device technology. This article discusses the application of diamond-based heterostructures and mainly writes about optoelectronic device fabrication, optoelectronic performance research, LEDs, photodetectors, and high-electron mobility transistor (HEMT) device applications based on diamond non-metal oxide (AlN, GaN, Si and carbon-based semiconductor) heterojunction. The discussion in this paper will provide a new scheme for the improvement of high-temperature diamond-based optoelectronics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Trends in Photochemistry in Eurasia)

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18 pages, 5991 KiB

Open AccessReview

Locking the GFP Fluorophore to Enhance Its Emission Intensity

Joana R. M. Ferreira

Cátia I. C. Esteves

Maria Manuel B. Marques

and

Samuel Guieu

Molecules 2023, 28(1), 234; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28010234 - 27 Dec 2022

Viewed by 1529

Abstract

The Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) and its analogues have been widely used as fluorescent biomarkers in cell biology. Yet, the chromophore responsible for the fluorescence of the GFP is not emissive when isolated in solution, outside the protein environment. The most accepted explanation is that the quenching of the fluorescence results from the rotation of the aryl–alkene bond and from the Z/E isomerization. Over the years, many efforts have been performed to block these torsional rotations, mimicking the environment inside the protein β-barrel, to restore the emission intensity. Molecule rigidification through chemical modifications or complexation, or through crystallization, is one of the strategies used. This review presents an overview of the strategies developed to achieve highly emissive GFP chromophore by hindering the torsional rotations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Trends in Photochemistry in Eurasia)

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