This anthological description of the history and applications of photochemistry provides photochemistry practitioners with complementary information about the field, currently not covered in existing textbooks and handbooks. Divided into two sections, the first part focuses on the historical development of the field, including light-matter interaction, the discovery of photochemical reactions and the development of modern photochemical mechanisms. This section provides useful background to the second part which outlines applications of photochemistry in the present day, such as in synthesis, green chemistry, diagnostics, medicine and nanotechnology. Furthermore, the author provides an outlook on promising areas for future developments. The broad scope of "Photochemistry: Past, Present and Future" is also of interest to the wider chemical audience and it makes a pleasant read while not compromising on scientific rigor.

Auteur

Angelo Albini is a professor of organic chemistry at the University of Pavia, Italy. After postdoctoral work at the Max-Plank Institute for Radiation Chemistry in Muelheim, Germany (1973-74), he joined the Faculty at Pavia in 1975. He accepted a chair of organic chemistry at the University of Torino in 1990 and then moved again to Pavia in 1993. He has been visiting professor at the Universities of Western Ontario (Canada, 1977-78) and Odense (Denmark, 1983).

Alberto Albini is active in the field of organic photochemistry, organic synthesis via radicals and ions, photoinitiated reactions, mild synthetic procedures in the frame of the increasing interest for substainable/green chemistry, and applied photochemistry (photostability of dyes, drugs, photoinduced degradation of pollutants). He has been the recipient of the Federchimica Prize for creativity in chemistry in 1990.

Contenu
Early Times of Photochemistry.- The Framework of Photochemistry: The Laws.- The Framework of Photochemistry: State Diagram.- Some Paradigmatic Topics.- The Role of Photochemistry in Chemistry.- Photochemistry, a Powerful Science.- Of Excited States, Again.- Photochemical and Photocatalyzed Synthesis.- Medicinal and Diagnostic Applications.- Solar Energy Conversion.- Actuators.- Photochemistry and Green Chemistry.