Difference between revisions of "Balzani Vincenzo"
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Let us start from the beginning of his scientific career. Vincenzo Balzanigraduated in Chemistry, cum laude, at the University of Bologna in 1960, with a thesis related to the photochemistry of metal complex in solution. He became interested in inorganic photochemistry by chance. When he was a student in the laboratory of his mentor Vittorio Carassiti, one of Carassiti’s colleagues was trying to obtain the Raman spectra of cyanide complexes of molybdenum and tungsten. He failed, however, because those complexes underwent decomposition upon irradiation with the Raman excitation lamp. That photodecomposition intrigued Carassiti, who decided to begin a systematic investigation on the photochemical reactions of metal complexes, a field completely unexplored at that time, and asked Vincenzo to start with experiments. After 10 years of intense studies, ProfessorCarassiti and Balzani wrote the monograph Photochemistry of Coordination Compounds [V. Balzani,V. Carassiti, Photochemistry of Coordination Compounds, Academic Press, London, 1970] that was also defined the “bible” of inorganic photochemistry and it has been a source of inspiration for many young photochemists. | Let us start from the beginning of his scientific career. Vincenzo Balzanigraduated in Chemistry, cum laude, at the University of Bologna in 1960, with a thesis related to the photochemistry of metal complex in solution. He became interested in inorganic photochemistry by chance. When he was a student in the laboratory of his mentor Vittorio Carassiti, one of Carassiti’s colleagues was trying to obtain the Raman spectra of cyanide complexes of molybdenum and tungsten. He failed, however, because those complexes underwent decomposition upon irradiation with the Raman excitation lamp. That photodecomposition intrigued Carassiti, who decided to begin a systematic investigation on the photochemical reactions of metal complexes, a field completely unexplored at that time, and asked Vincenzo to start with experiments. After 10 years of intense studies, ProfessorCarassiti and Balzani wrote the monograph Photochemistry of Coordination Compounds [V. Balzani,V. Carassiti, Photochemistry of Coordination Compounds, Academic Press, London, 1970] that was also defined the “bible” of inorganic photochemistry and it has been a source of inspiration for many young photochemists. | ||
| − | Among inorganic molecules, [Ru(bpy)<math>_{3}</math>]<math>^{2+}</math> complex has been his favorite molecule: he studied the photochemical and luminescent behavior of more than one hundred Ru(II)–polypyridine complexes, showing that it is possible to tune their ground and excited state properties by a suitable choice of the ligands [A. Juris, V. Balzani, F. Barigelletti, S. Campagna, P. Belser, A. von Zelewsky, Coord. Chem. Rev. 1988, 84, 85]. This work has opened the way to an extensive use of polypyridine metal complexes in a variety of photoinduced electron-transfer processes of fundamental and applied interest, e.g., dye-sensitization of photoelectrochemical cells. A spin-off of these systematic investigations was the discovery that complex behaves as an “artificial firefly” when it is used to catalyze the oscillating Belousov-Zhabotinski reaction [F. Bolletta, V. Balzani,J. Am. Chem. Soc.1982, 104, 4250]. Later on, [Ru(bpy)3]2+became an invaluable component of his molecular machines. | + | Among inorganic molecules, [Ru(bpy)<math>_{3}</math>]<math>^{2+}</math> complex has been his favorite molecule: he studied the photochemical and luminescent behavior of more than one hundred Ru(II)–polypyridine complexes, showing that it is possible to tune their ground and excited state properties by a suitable choice of the ligands [A. Juris, V. Balzani, F. Barigelletti, S. Campagna, P. Belser, A. von Zelewsky, Coord. Chem. Rev. 1988, 84, 85]. This work has opened the way to an extensive use of polypyridine metal complexes in a variety of photoinduced electron-transfer processes of fundamental and applied interest, e.g., dye-sensitization of photoelectrochemical cells. A spin-off of these systematic investigations was the discovery that [Ru(bpy)<math>_{3}</math>]<math>^{2+}</math>complex behaves as an “artificial firefly” when it is used to catalyze the oscillating Belousov-Zhabotinski reaction [F. Bolletta, V. Balzani,J. Am. Chem. Soc.1982, 104, 4250]. Later on, [Ru(bpy)<math>_{3}</math>]<math>^{2+}</math> became an invaluable component of his molecular machines. |
Revision as of 19:09, 10 January 2018
By Dr. Paola Ceroni
Department of Chemistry “Giacomo Ciamician”, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy, EU.
Vincenzo Balzani is currently Emeritus Professor at the University of Bologna and his research is devoted to photochemistry, i.e. the interaction of light with chemical systems, as described in his recent publication [V. Balzani, P. Ceroni, A. Juris, Photochemistry and Photophysics: Concepts, Research, Applications, Wiley-VCH, 2014].
Let us start from the beginning of his scientific career. Vincenzo Balzanigraduated in Chemistry, cum laude, at the University of Bologna in 1960, with a thesis related to the photochemistry of metal complex in solution. He became interested in inorganic photochemistry by chance. When he was a student in the laboratory of his mentor Vittorio Carassiti, one of Carassiti’s colleagues was trying to obtain the Raman spectra of cyanide complexes of molybdenum and tungsten. He failed, however, because those complexes underwent decomposition upon irradiation with the Raman excitation lamp. That photodecomposition intrigued Carassiti, who decided to begin a systematic investigation on the photochemical reactions of metal complexes, a field completely unexplored at that time, and asked Vincenzo to start with experiments. After 10 years of intense studies, ProfessorCarassiti and Balzani wrote the monograph Photochemistry of Coordination Compounds [V. Balzani,V. Carassiti, Photochemistry of Coordination Compounds, Academic Press, London, 1970] that was also defined the “bible” of inorganic photochemistry and it has been a source of inspiration for many young photochemists.
Among inorganic molecules, [Ru(bpy)[math]_{3}[/math]][math]^{2+}[/math] complex has been his favorite molecule: he studied the photochemical and luminescent behavior of more than one hundred Ru(II)–polypyridine complexes, showing that it is possible to tune their ground and excited state properties by a suitable choice of the ligands [A. Juris, V. Balzani, F. Barigelletti, S. Campagna, P. Belser, A. von Zelewsky, Coord. Chem. Rev. 1988, 84, 85]. This work has opened the way to an extensive use of polypyridine metal complexes in a variety of photoinduced electron-transfer processes of fundamental and applied interest, e.g., dye-sensitization of photoelectrochemical cells. A spin-off of these systematic investigations was the discovery that [Ru(bpy)[math]_{3}[/math]][math]^{2+}[/math]complex behaves as an “artificial firefly” when it is used to catalyze the oscillating Belousov-Zhabotinski reaction [F. Bolletta, V. Balzani,J. Am. Chem. Soc.1982, 104, 4250]. Later on, [Ru(bpy)[math]_{3}[/math]][math]^{2+}[/math] became an invaluable component of his molecular machines.
