Crystalline Thymine Dimers Splitting by an Interfacial Photomechanochemical Single Electron Transfer Chain Reaction
Abstract
Splitting of the cis, syn thymine dimer ( TD ) into thymine ( T ) can be achieved in the solid state via an interfacial SET photomechanochemical reaction with N, N, N, N -tetramethyl-1,4-phenylenediamine (TMPD) as the photochemical reductant. Mechanical grinding enabled the uniform deposition of the TMPD sensitizer on the dimer surface, and photoirradiation of this solid–solid mixture ( TD +TMPD) triggered electron transfer at the solid–solid interface that was propagated into the bulk of the crystal as a chain reaction. Variables explored included sensitizer loading and preparation strategies that included solid–solid mixing and the deposition of the photosensitizer onto the TD surface from solution. Clean solid-to-solid transformations were observed with product yields as high as ∼95%.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Crystallography and molecular interactions
Surface Chemistry and Catalysis
Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Journal of the American Chemical Society
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Volume
- 148
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 2103–2107
- Publication date
- 6 January 2026
- Language
- EN