Using the Laser Electron Accelerator Facility (LEAF) at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Bird and coworkers use pulse radiolysis to generate and study short-lived reactive intermediates relevant to the BioLEC mission. Pulse radiolysis is a way to add charges to molecules without using electrodes by using a short, high energy electron pulse to ionize the solvent and transfer those electrons to solute in nanoseconds. Through collaborations with other members of BioLEC, we learn about the thermodynamics and kinetics that govern a range of different photoredox catalytic systems.
