New Perspectives in Science Education

Due to their sustainability potential and versatility, Photochemical reactions are becoming more and more important in the context of research, chemical production and also teaching at schools [1]. In the research project CataLight new methods to increase the efficiency of photochemical reactions are investigated [2]. One possibility is to ensure the spatial proximity of the reactants in order to increase the efficiency [3]. In the presented experiment, and to demonstrate this relationship, the molecules are confined in a sphere consisting of lipids, so called liposomes. The conversion of NADH to NAD⁺ within this sphere by the ruthenium complex acting as a photocatalyst can be followed by spectroscopic methods. First, simplifications of the experiment are addressed using the concept of didactic reconstruction. Second, it is shown that by slight adaptations to the photometer of the low-cost measuring station LabPi an adequate tracking of the degradation of NADH can be ensured [4,5], enabling future experiments in schools.