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Photoactive Chitosan: A Step Toward a Green Strategy for Pollutant Degradation
Author(s) -
Walalawela Niluksha,
Greer Alexander
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
photochemistry and photobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.818
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1751-1097
pISSN - 0031-8655
DOI - 10.1111/php.12355
Subject(s) - singlet oxygen , human decontamination , degradation (telecommunications) , rose bengal , aqueous solution , chitosan , aqueous medium , pollutant , polymer , chemistry , nanotechnology , photobiology , green chemistry , conjugated system , catalysis , photochemistry , materials science , oxygen , organic chemistry , reaction mechanism , computer science , waste management , physics , engineering , telecommunications , optics
This article is a highlight of the paper by Ferrari et al . in this issue of Photochemistry and Photobiology . It describes the innovative use of rose bengal‐conjugated chitosan as a reusable green catalyst that photo‐degrades phenolic compounds in aqueous media, and thereby has decontamination potential of polluted waters. Whether a next‐generation photoactive polymer that produces singlet oxygen is a solution to pollutant degradation can be argued. It is as yet unclear what polymeric sensitizer would be practical on a large scale. Nonetheless pursuing this goal is worthwhile.