Photosynthesis, artificial mechanism, natural process

Another important area is the use of photochemistry—chemistry that results from light absorption—to perform transformations that are not otherwise possible. The practical applications of photosynthesis were based on fundamental work to learn the new pathways that light absorption makes possible, but the work on these synthetic methods has also added to our basic understanding of the reaction mechanisms. The important natural process of photosynthesis also inspires some work in photochemistry, where the challenge is one of producing artificial photosynthetic systems that could use sunlight to drive the formation of energetic materials. 

Studies of such systems provided a better understanding of the mechanism of electron transfer processes in general. This reaction type is also the basis of almost any type of natural or artificial photosynthesis. Hence it is not surprising that many investigations have been devoted to excited state electron transfer reactions. On the contrary, the reversal of excited state electron transfer has found much less attention although it is certainly not less interesting. 

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