Peter Dinér

Catalysis is the most important process on Earth, whether it’s photosynthesis, the enzymes in our body or artificial catalysts that produce important molecules. Peter Dinér’s research focuses on organocatalysis, metal catalysis and photoredox catalysis.
In all these processes, it is the catalyst that makes it possible for a reaction to occur. In his latest research, light is used as an energy source to activate the catalyst to achieve a higher, excited energy state. In this excited state the reactivity is altered and gives access to new reaction pathways.
The aim of Dinér’s research is to use photocatalysis to produce new and complex compounds. These sophisticated methods could be applied in pharmaceutical chemistry, as they can form molecules a with more complex, three-dimensional structure, as opposed to ‘normal’ flat pharmaceutical molecules.
Dinér’s research uses the standard starting material, which is activated using the photocatalysts to form reactive intermediaries, known as radicals, which in turn will form the new complex compounds by reacting with aromatic rings.