This monograph explores photokinetics, the study of reaction kinetics under light exposure, addressing its longstanding underdevelopment compared to thermal reaction kinetics. It systematically reviews fundamental concepts, introduces new methods and equations to quantify and predict photochemical and photothermal reaction rates, and provides a standardized framework for laboratory investigations. Covering both monochromatic and polychromatic light effects, the book presents a paradigm shift in the field, making it a valuable reference for students, researchers, and industry professionals. It lays the foundation for the advancement of photokinetics, bridging critical knowledge gaps and setting the stage for future developments. This volume serves as a valuable resource for students, researchers, and academics working with photoreactive systems.
Basics of photokinetics.- Kinetics a preview.- Some technical aspects of
photokinetics.- A mathemcatical tool kit.- Unsettled concepts.- Kasha s rule
and photochemistry.- The photochemical quantum yield formula.- Hidden hurdles
in chemical kinetics Distinctability Distinguishability and Identifiabilty
concepts.- The order of a photoreaction.- Photokinetics for monochromatic
isosbestic irradiation.- The reaction order under monochromatic and
isosbestic irradiation.- Degeneracy of the kinetic solution
Distinguishability and identifiability in relation to naphthopyrans themal
bleaching.- Kinetic elucidation.- Analytical description of kinetics under
non isosbestic irradiation.- Defining the order kinetics.- The hurdle.-
Attempted approaches for unsolvable photokinetics.- The power series
expansion approach.- A semi empirical method SEM.- Established SEM model
equations XY1F XY 2F and XY4 4F.- Elucidation methods using SEM equations.-
Quantification by SEM equations.- Reaction photostabilisation and quantum
yield variability with wavelength.- Development of actinometers.- A general
photokinetic model equation for photo thermal reactions under monochromatic
and polychromatic lights.- A general model equation for photokinetics.-
Standardization of photokinetic elucidation for photothermal reactions.-
Revisiting some concepts.- Quantification of photothermal reactions.-
Kinactinometry.
Mounir Maafi is a registered UN consultant/UNIDO international expert, an editor for three journals, and an active peer reviewer for more than 30 scientific journals. He has a versatile research experience that was facilitated by his chemical engineering background and a postgraduate diploma in spectroscopic methods for analyses of materials. His PhD (obtained from Paris 7 University), which focused on storage of sunlight energy in electro-polymers, preluded four postdoctoral positions (France, Spain, Sweden, and the UK) that were held in international institutions, including the Karolinska Institute. He has also been an academic in four European universities, where he mainly taught chemistry, pharmacy, pharmaceutical, and forensic students. Since he joined De Montfort University, he has successfully supervised to completion (as first supervisor) several national and externally funded international Ph.D. and Masters research students. He contributed oral and poster presentations at numerous conferences (where, for some, he was invited to deliver plenary presentations). The research programmes he was involved in required versatile skills in physical and analytical chemistry, mathematics and mathematical modelling of chemical systems, coding and simulation, numerical integration methods, and experimental design. The gathered expertise was pivotal to his research on photokinetics (i.e., kinetics of photoreactions) and actinometry (i.e., determination of the photon flux of a light source). His work was devoted to rationalising photokinetics along the generally established standards of kinetics. He has published in this area numerous papers in reputable (refereed) scientific journals. Almost each of these papers brought a new idea or conceptualisation to the field. Some of the important outcomes of his research included the discovery of the -order kinetics, an unprecedented general explicit integrated rate-law equation to fit any trace of photo- and photothermal reactions, an explanation and solutions for the identifiability issues, mathematical procedures for kinetic elucidation (unravelling all reaction parameters), easy means to prove the variability of the quantum yield with irradiation wavelength, and handy actinometric methods (where he proposed a series of new actinometers). The predictive potential of the new explicit equation for many reaction situations has been proven experimentally and/or by numerically generated data. The research was based on a detailed mathematical framework combining the theoretical equations of photokinetics with mathematical simulations and experimental data. The rationale being that any new concept, formula, or procedure has to be tested by computer-generated data and, as much as possible, be confronted with experiment. The shift of paradigm introduced by his research work in the subject of photokinetics contributes to a rationalisation of the subject and opens alternative avenues for further developments.
