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Lookup NU author(s): Sulafa Nassar, Dr Dumitru Sirbu, Emeritus Professor Anthony Harriman
This is the authors' accepted manuscript of an article that has been published in its final definitive form by Nature, 2019.
For re-use rights please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.
Indigo, an emblematic violet dye used for thousands of years to colour fabric, is resistant to fading on exposure to sunlight. Prior work has indicated that indigo is reactive towards both hydroperoxyl radicals and superoxide anions in solution. In order to promote photobleaching of indigo, we have utilised a BOPHY-based (BOPHY = aryl fused symmetrical pyrrole-BF2 complex) chromophore known to form both superoxide ions and a stable alkyl hydroperoxide under illumination in aerated solution. Selective irradiation of the photocatalyst causes relatively fast fading of indigo, with the rate increasing gently with increasing concentration of indigo. Molecular oxygen and light are essential for effective bleaching. One molecule of photocatalyst can bleach more than 40 molecules of indigo. An active component of the photocatalyst is a butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) residue which itself quenches the triplet excited state of indigo. This provides an ancillary mechanism for effecting photofading of indigo but, because the triplet is formed in very low yield, this route is less practical.
Author(s): Nassar SJM, Sirbu D, Harriman A
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences
Year: 2019
Volume: 18
Issue: 12
Pages: 2875-2883
Online publication date: 07/11/2019
Acceptance date: 06/11/2019
Date deposited: 21/01/2020
ISSN (print): 1474-905X
ISSN (electronic): 1474-9092
Publisher: Nature
URL: https://doi.org/10.1039/C9PP00355J
DOI: 10.1039/c9pp00355j
PubMed id: 31720669
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