Ultrafast photoactivation of C─H bonds inside water-soluble nanocages

• DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aav4806
• Publication Date: 2019-02-23T00:25:56Z
• Authors: Ankita Das; Imon Mandal; Ravindra Venkatra...; Jyotishman Dasgupta
• Keywords: Nanocages

Light energy absorbed by molecules can be harnessed to activate chemical bonds with extraordinary speed. However, excitation redistribution within various molecular degrees of freedom prohibits bond-selective chemistry. Inspired enzymes, we devised a new photocatalytic scheme that preorganizes and polarizes target inside water-soluble cationic nanocavities engineer selective functionalization. Specifically, present route photoactivate weakly polarized sp