Light, Molecules, Reaction and Health

Light, Molecules, Reaction and Health offers a comprehensive overview of health-related, light-based processes and systems, paying special attention to molecular photochemistry. Users of photochemical methods and concepts in pharmacology and biomedicine will find detailed information on the basic processes underlying the biological effects of natural and artificial light―from the primary absorption event occurring in an endogenous or exogenous molecule in a biological compartment, to the final pathological or beneficial outcome. By emphasizing novel methods, including nanostructured materials in therapy and diagnostics, this book allows readers to critically interpret existing data with a goal of stimulating new research in phytotherapy and phytomedicine.

• Describes the applications of light controlled methods and systems
• Combines a clear narrative with practical tables to effectively connect a primary photochemical event with the resulting biological effect
• Presents important topics on the analysis of the processes that are initiated by the absorption of light by photoactive compounds in the skin and the eye, as well as low-intensity light therapy, photoimmunotherapy, UV effects, vitamin D production, skin photoaging, and more

Dr. Albini is currently a professor of organic chemistry at the University of Pavia, Italy. He completed his postdoctoral work at Max-Plank Institute for radiation chemistry in Muelheim, Germany. He has also had visiting professorships at the universities of Western Ontario (Canada) and Odense (Denmark) and a period at the university of Torino. His career has focused on organic photochemistry, organic synthesis via radical and ions, photoinitiated reactions, mild synthetic procedure in the frame of the increasing interest for sustainable/green chemistry and applied photochemistry (photoactivated drugs, photostability of dyes, drugs, photoinduced degradation of pollutants). Dr. Albini has been responsible for several research projects sponsored by national and international institutions and devoted to the above topics. He was the founder and first chair of two interest groups of the Italian Chemical Society, on photochemistry and on green chemistry, respectively. Dr. Albini is the (co)author/editor of five books, the editor of the yearly Specialist Periodic Reports on Photochemistry (Royal Society of Chemistry) since 2008, as well as coauthor ca. 350 research articles. He is the recipient of the Federchimica Prize for creativity in chemistry in 1990 and the SCI Prize for mechanistic chemistry in 2011.