title: High-pressure photodissociation of water as a tool for hydrogen synthesis and fundamental chemistry.
abstract: High-pressure methods have been demonstrated to be efficient in providing new routes for the synthesis of materials of technological interest. In several molecular compounds, the drastic pressure conditions required for spontaneous transformations have been lowered to the kilobar range by photoactivation of the reactions. At these pressures, the syntheses are accessible to large-volume applications and are of interest to bioscience, space, and environmental chemistry. Here, we show that the short-lived hydroxyl radicals, produced in the photodissociation of water molecules by near-UV radiation at room temperature and pressures of a few tenths of a gigapascal (GPa), can be successfully used to trigger chemical reactions in mixtures of water with carbon monoxide or nitrogen. The detection of molecular hydrogen among the reaction products is of particular relevance. Besides the implications in fundamental chemistry, the mild pressure and irradiation conditions, the efficiency of the process, and the nature of the reactant and product molecules suggest applications in synthesis.
authors: European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy.
authors: Matteo
authors: M
authors: Ceppatelli
authors: Roberto
authors: R
authors: Bini
authors: Vincenzo
authors: V
authors: Schettino
mesh_terms: D002384:Catalysis; D006859:Hydrogen / Q000737:chemistry*; D010777:Photochemistry / Q000379:methods*; D011312:Pressure; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D014867:Water; D006859:Hydrogen