Advanced Photocatalytic Systems for Bio-inspired Solar Chemistry and Artificial Photosynthetic Fuel Production, Keynote Abstract in Proceedings of the International Conference on Innovative Applied Energy, Oxford, UK

Replacing natural processes with small molecular catalysts based on coordination compounds and photoreactive materials offers several important benefits compared to conventional biomimetic strategies [1]. Such advantages include the convenient triggering and regulation of enzyme-like activity by light intensity variations, efficient substrate conversion even under very mild reaction conditions, and the intrinsic possibility of powering energetically uphill processes. Due to these promising features, the novel field of photochemical enzyme models(artificial photoenzymes), which was developed in the author´s lab, has matured over the last decade. The next level of development will now be reached by immobilizing artificial enzymes as light-responsive catalysts into biocompatible materials such as hydrogels, which will allow the generation of artificial organelles for new types of photocataltic processes following a bottom-up synthetic biology approach. Thus, visible light driven reaction cascades with robust artificial enzymes based on non-precious metal coordination compounds can already offer an attractive “green chemistry” strategy for environmentally benign onepot multistep substrate conversions [2]. Moreover, such lightdependent enzyme model compounds can be employed as versatile photocatalysts for powering energetically uphill redox processes required for the direct chemical conversion and storage of solar energy [3]. References: [1] G. Knör, ChemBioChem 2001, 2, 593; G. Knör, Chem. Eur. J. 2009, 15, 568. [2] G. Knör, Coord. Chem. Rev. 2016, 325, 102. [3] G. Knör, Coord. Chem. Rev. 2015, 304-305, 102.Eur. J. 2009, 15, 568.