SUPRCAT

A New Dial for Controlling Light-Driven Chemistry

Daniel Morton — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 17:45:04 +0000

A New Dial for Controlling Light-Driven Chemistry Daniel Morton Tue, 07/21/2026 - 11:45

Daniel Morton

RASEI Fellow Niels Damrauer (�鶹��Ѱ��) and a multidisciplinary team initiated by Professor Zach Wickens at the University of Wisconsin Madison just found a new way to control which molecules react in light-driven chemistry. The key to unlocking this new pathway? Focus on what happens after the reaction starts, not before.

SET: A powerful reaction for building organic molecules, such as medicines and materials

This type of reaction, called single electron transfer (SET), is one of the most useful tools in modern chemistry. It can be initiated by swapping in light or electricity instead of heat, making it more energy efficient and less prone to generating waste products. But there have always been some limitations with SET. Some molecules just don’t want to accept an electron, particularly when there are other types of molecules nearby that do the reaction faster, meaning that they’ve been locked out of this chemistry, until now. The new study, published in Nature with collaborators Zachary Wickens from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Robert Paton at Colorado State University, opens the door to reactions that were previously impossible.

How Single Electron Transfer Works

One molecule, commonly after absorbing light, transfers an electron to another, triggering a reaction. Researchers have previously controlled the outcome of the reaction by picking molecules based on how ‘eager’ they are to grab, or accept, that electron. The molecule most ready to accept the electron wins. This approach has produced a wide range of really impressive chemistry, but it leaves out any molecule that isn’t ‘interested’ in the electron to begin with.

Identifying an opportunity

Every SET reaction actually has two steps, not one. First, an electron is transferred from a donor molecule to an acceptor molecule. Then, it has an option, it can either go forward to trigger a reaction, or it can go backward, undoing the first step. It is reversible. Chemists have always focused on controlling the first electron transfer. This team asked what would happen if they found a way to control the second electron transfer instead.

An extreme electron donor

To test this idea the researchers built what they call a “super-potent photoreductant”. It’s a light-activated catalyst that hands out electrons to almost every nearby molecule, good at accepting or not. In this particular research, the reductant is a solvated electron released from a photoexcited catalyst. Damrauer and his student Arindam Sau used time resolved spectroscopies to disentangle mechanism and identify conditions, such as the wavelength for photoexcitation, where catalysts could function. Damrauer notes, “By analyzing time-resolved signals in our experiment, my student Arindam was able to find colors for photoexcitation where the electron, the reductant, would be released deeper into the solvent, thereby affording it time to do its work in reducing the substrate molecules in solution.” But shouldn’t this reducing potency wipe out selectivity entirely? If every molecule gets an electron, which one ‘wins’?

RASEI Fellow Niels Damrauer at the graduation of one of the lead researchers Arindam Sau (Boulder, CO, 2026).

Reversibility is the key

The opportunity comes down to the second electron transfer. If a molecule accepts an electron, but doesn’t react quickly, the electron slips back to the catalyst and molecule floats away unchanged. If the molecule does react quickly, in a non-reversible way, the electron doesn’t go back to the catalyst and the reaction moves forward. Selectivity now depends on how reversible the electron transfer is, not how easy the initial electron transfer was.

Building a model reaction to test the hypothesis

The team tested this using a mixture of two molecules side by side: One that accepts electrons readily, but also gives them back easily, and one that ‘reluctantly’ accepts electrons, but then holds on tight once it does through a structural change. Under the old rules, the ‘eager’ electron acceptor would win. Under the new rules the ‘reluctant’ one wins, moving forward along the reaction pathway, leading to the formation of a new product that would not have been otherwise possible. Through a series of experimental explorative and optimization reactions the team were able to confirm that this selectivity preference held across a broad range of related molecules, not just the one test case.

No molecules left behind

With this works chemists now have a new dial to turn. Molecules that were previously incompatible with this efficient, light-driven chemistry are now available. This opens new pathways for building medicines and advanced materials, using less energy and creating less waste along the way.

JULY 2026

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Structure–Property–Performance Relationships of Tetra-Alkylated Phenazine Photoredox Catalysts in Organocatalyzed Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization

Daniel Morton — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 18:34:58 +0000

Structure–Property–Performance Relationships of Tetra-Alkylated Phenazine Photoredox Catalysts in Organocatalyzed Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization Daniel Morton Mon, 11/03/2025 - 11:34

MACROMOLECULES, 2025, 58, 22, 12241-12249
November 2025

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Organocatalyzed Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (O-ATRP) Using a Super-Reducing Photoredox Catalyst

Daniel Morton — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 23:34:02 +0000

Organocatalyzed Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (O-ATRP) Using a Super-Reducing Photoredox Catalyst Daniel Morton Wed, 10/08/2025 - 17:34

ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION, 2025, e202517641
October 2025

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Light-powered reactions could make the chemical manufacturing industry more energy-efficient

Daniel Morton — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 22:25:34 +0000

Light-powered reactions could make the chemical manufacturing industry more energy-efficient Daniel Morton Thu, 06/26/2025 - 16:25

Daniel Morton

Show me more!

The Conversation Highlight

SuPRCat

Research Article

Chemistry World Highlight

Colorado Arts & Sciences Magazine Highlight

A recent collaborative report, published in Science, including RASEI Fellow Niels Damrauer, addresses a key issue for light-driven chemistry, potentially opening up possibilities for future energy-efficient chemical manufacturing.

Chemical reactions typically require an input of energy to proceed, this can be through heating, or introduction of chemical energy in the form of reactive chemicals. Recently, light-driven chemistry has emerged as a more energy efficient alternative. The principle is to use energy from light, which is absorbed by a catalyst. Excited by the light energy the catalyst can then donate an electron to the chemicals undergoing the desired chemical transformation.

This sounds great – light-driven reactions? One of the key issues in this class of chemistry is back transfer of the electron. This means that after the catalyst donates the electron to the reagents, instead of doing the desired reaction, the reagent gives the electron back to the catalyst. This can significantly slow down the desired reaction, even sometimes shutting it down.

This report details a new type of catalyst that can overcome this back transfer of electrons. Through rationale design of the catalyst the new system uses a chemical reaction as a catch, preventing the back transfer from the reagent and strongly favoring the desired reaction.

To highlight the impact of this work, which was completed as part of the NSF Center for Chemical Innovation Center for Sustainable Photoredox Catalysis (SuPRCat), �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder student Arindam Sau, a member of the Damrauer group, teamed up with a graduate student and postdoc from Colorado State University to put together a review and summary of this work that was recently published in The Conversation. Check out the highlight to get a full picture of the impact of this work.

June 2025

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Efficient super-reducing organic photoredox catalysis with proton-coupled electron transfer mitigated back electron transfer

Daniel Morton — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 17:38:42 +0000

Efficient super-reducing organic photoredox catalysis with proton-coupled electron transfer mitigated back electron transfer Daniel Morton Thu, 06/19/2025 - 11:38

SCIENCE, 2025, 388, 6753, 1294-1300

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Catalyzing the Sustainable Decomposition of PFAS Forever Chemicals

Daniel Morton — Sat, 21 Dec 2024 00:30:44 +0000

Catalyzing the Sustainable Decomposition of PFAS Forever Chemicals Daniel Morton Fri, 12/20/2024 - 17:30

Daniel Morton

RASEI Fellow Niels Damrauer is part of a collaborative team that have developed a new light-driven C-F activation reaction, one that has the potential to help dismantle PFAS ‘forever chemicals’

Find out more

Read the Article

Highlight in The Conversation

C&EN Highlight

Colorado Arts and Science Magazine Highlight

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are synthetic compounds that have found widespread use in consumer products and industrial applications. Their water and grease resistant properties have been part of their attraction in their applications, but these are also the reason that they are now found practically everywhere in the environment, they are very difficult to decompose.

While many chemicals will decompose relatively quickly, studies have shown that PFAS are expected to stick around for up to 1000 years. While this durability is great in something like firefighting foams or non-stick cookware, it is not great when these compounds get into the environment.

This new article, published in Nature in November of 2024, describes the work of a collaborative team of theoretical and experimental chemists, who have developed a new photochemical reaction that could hold promise of speeding up the decomposition of PFAS. A recent highlight of this work, written by the graduate student and postdoctoral fellows who did the research, appeared in The Conversation.

Using a photocatalyst, that absorbs light to speed up a reaction, the researchers were able to ‘activate’ one of the carbon-fluorine bonds, one of the strongest bonds in organic chemistry. The photocatalyst absorbs light, transfers electrons to the fluorine containing molecules, which then breaks down the sturdy carbon-fluorine bond.

While this doesn’t decompose the whole molecule, it is essentially like finding a chink in the armor, it opens the door to degradation of the PFAS to harmless smaller molecules.

This study demonstrated this process on a small scale, and the researchers are looking at how to optimize this reaction so it is more robust and can be done on larger scales. This work is part of a National Science Foundation funded Center for Chemical Innovation called SuPRCat, a research community that will be looking at this challenge, among others.

If it is possible to break down these forever chemicals, it will help prevent these environmental pollutants being in our soil, rivers, and drinking water. Excited to see the next steps from the team!

December 2024

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Photocatalytic C–F bond activation in small molecules and polyfluoroalkyl substances

Daniel Morton — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 18:50:57 +0000

Photocatalytic C–F bond activation in small molecules and polyfluoroalkyl substances Daniel Morton Wed, 11/20/2024 - 11:50

NATURE, 2024

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Combined Synthetic, Spectroscopic, and Computational Insights Into a General Method for Photosensitized Alkene Aziridination

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 06:00:00 +0000

Combined Synthetic, Spectroscopic, and Computational Insights Into a General Method for Photosensitized Alkene Aziridination Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 08/02/2024 - 00:00

ACS CATALYSIS, 2024, 14, 12310-12317

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NSF Center for Chemical Innovation SUPRCAT Funded

Anonymous — Fri, 18 Aug 2023 06:00:00 +0000

NSF Center for Chemical Innovation SUPRCAT Funded Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 08/18/2023 - 00:00

Daniel Morton

Chemicals are everywhere, from the organic building blocks that make up living organisms, to the synthetic chemicals we use to create advanced materials, such as electronics. More traditional methods for making these critical chemicals have relied on elevated temperatures, additional chemicals, and can often generate large amounts of waste, or be difficult to dispose of at the end of life. One of the core pillars to the RASEI mission is to design new ways to make these critical chemicals, ways that use less energy, generate less waste, and are easier to dispose of when no longer needed.

SUPRCAT

CSU Source Press Release

NSF CCI Program

One of the most intriguing, and sustainable, ways to make chemicals that has emerged in the last decade is so-called photoredox catalysis – essentially using light to drive the reaction. In the same way that harvesting solar energy is far more renewable and cleaner than burning fossil fuels, photoredox methods for making reactions reduces the amount of additional chemicals required, reduces the amount of energy needed, and produces a more sustainable process. Coupling this new technology with a design ethos focused on the end of life of these chemicals, creates an approach that can address many of the concerns associated with synthetic chemicals.

RASEI Fellow Niels Damrauer is a founding member of a new National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Center for Chemical Innovation (CCI) titled The Center for Sustainable Photoredox Catalysis, or SUPRCAT. Niels is a member of the Executive Committee, and is a research area lead. Launched in August of 2023, the mission of SUPRCAT is to transform chemical synthesis by designing powerful, industrially-relevant processes using sustainable photoredox catalysts based on organic or earth abundant compounds and the energy from visible light.

Led out of Colorado State University by Prof. Garret Miyake, SUPRCAT brings together a multidisciplinary team of 12 research groups from CSU, �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder, University of Wisconsin, University of Northern Colorado, Northeastern University, Metropolitan State University Denver and a startup company called New Iridium.

The NSF CCI program supports research Centers focused on major, long-term fundamental chemical research challenges. CCI’s work to address these challenges to produce transformative research that leads to innovation and attracts broad scientific and public interest. SUPRCAT are certainly taking on a grand challenge – we are excited to see their progress.

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