Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 23, 2026

Developing Photosensitizer-Cobaloxime Hybrids for Solar-Driven H2 Production in Aqueous Aerobic Conditions
Published on: October 5, 2019
Photolysis of naphthenic acids in natural surface water
Dena W McMartin1, John V Headley, Duane A Friesen
1Faculty of Engineering, University of Regina, Regina, SK, Canada. dena.mcmartin@uregina.ca
Abstract:
Naphthenic acids are toxic and corrosive substances in oil sands leachates comprising a group of saturated aliphatic and alicyclic carboxylic acids in hydrocarbon deposits (petroleum, oil sands bitumen, and crude oils). In the current study, photolysis was applied to naphthenic acid mixtures and individual compounds to determine the efficacy of a variety of UV/vis radiation sources for reducing both concentration and aryl hydrocarbon (Ah) receptor binding as a measure of toxicity. The results show that the concentrations of neither the compounds nor the mixtures were significantly reduced in Athabasca River water, although compositional changes occurred within the mixtures and Ah receptor binding potential was affected by photolysis. Photolysis at UV254 was the most effective radiation source applied in all instances.
Related Concept Videos
Oxygenic Photosynthesis
Acid Halides to Carboxylic Acids: Hydrolysis
As shown below, the mechanism involves a nucleophilic attack by water at the carbonyl carbon to form a tetrahedral intermediate. This is followed by the reformation of the carbon–oxygen π bond along with the departure of a halide ion. A final proton transfer step yields carboxylic acid...
Photosystem II
The pigment molecules are arranged across two photosystem domains — the antenna complex and the reaction center. The main aim of the pigment molecules...
Photosystem I
Both these photosystems work in concert. An excited electron from PSII is relayed to PSI via an electron transport chain in the thylakoid membrane of the chloroplast, which is comprised of the carrier molecule plastoquinone, the dual-protein cytochrome complex, and plastocyanin. As electrons move between PSII and PSI, they lose energy and must be re-energized...
The Z-Scheme of Electron Transport in Photosynthesis
Surface Active Agents

