Organic Sunscreen Photodegradation
Melanoma is one of the most common cancers in the UK, with the number of reported cases increasing annually. As a result, considerable efforts have been made towards developing more efficient broad spectrum sunscreens that protect against UVA and UVB.
Photodegradation
Given the importance of sunscreens to human health, it is surprising that relatively little is known at the molecular level about how photoactive sunscreen molecules absorb and disperse the damaging UV radiation into less harmful forms of energy.
We are performing a new series of experiments using laser-interfaced mass spectrometry to study the photodegradation routes of organic sunscreens, photostability, and further developing new techniques to link solution-phase photochemistry of sunscreen molecules to their intrinsic photochemical properties.