Theoretical studies on the energy structures and optical properties of copper cysteamine - a novel sensitizer.

Copper cysteamine (Cu-Cy) is a new type of photosensitizer, which can be activated not only by ultraviolet light, but also by X-rays, microwaves and ultrasound to generate reactive oxygen species for treating cancer and infection diseases. Moreover, copper cysteamine has a strong luminescence, which can be used for both therapeutics and imaging. In addition, it can also be used for solid state lighting, radiation detection and sensing.

Deactivation of Excited States in Transition-Metal Complexes: Insight from Computational Chemistry.

Investigation of the excited-state decay dynamics of transition-metal systems is a crucial step for the development of photoswitchable molecular based materials with applications in growing fields as energy conversion, data storage, or molecular devices. The photophysics of these systems is an entangled problem arising from the interplay of electronic and geometrical rearrangements that take place on a short time scale. Several factors play a role in the process: various electronic states of different spin and chemical character are involved, the system undergoes important structural variations and several nonradiative processes can occur.