STUDY OF SEMICONDUCTOR PHOTOCATALYSED OXIDATION OF TARTRONIC ACID USED AS COSMETIC AND HYPOGLYCEMIC ACTION

*Pushkar Raj Meena and Dr. R. K. Khandelwal

ABSTRACT

Many industrial activities such as organic synthesis, oil refining, and pollution control[1-5] have made the heterogeneous catalysts as a crucial part of intensive studies. TiO2 has proved as one of the promising n-type semiconductors due to its wide band gap (3.2 eV) under ultraviolet light.[6-8] TiO2 also, due to its long term photo stability, non-toxicity, and high effectiveness, has been broadly utilized in mineralizing toxic and non-biodegradable environmental contaminants. Today, it is also utilizing in the novel organic synthesis.[9,10] Without increasing the corrosivity of the system the use of tartronic acid is much more efficiently removes the dissolved oxygen rather than the conventional treatments.[11] Tartronic acid can be found in potato, and therefore, it is a potential biomarker for the consumption of these food products.[12] TiO2 (titanium dioxide), as a food additive[16-18] has approved for use in various countries like EU, USA, Australia and New Zealand; it is listed by INS number 270 or E number E-270. Therefore, it is planned to investigate photo-oxidation of tartronic acid (hydroxyl-propandioic acid) by semiconductor sensitized in visible light and the photoproduct was mesoxalic acid. From the fact that the use of insulin in combination with mesoxalic acid produced more marked effect. It presumed this drug to enhance the activity of insulin. These hydroxyacids can be able to reverse some of the damage caused by photo aging, but at the same time they make the skin more susceptible to photo aging. Several aspects concerning the mechanism of action of alpha hydroxyacids are still unknown. The toxic nature of photoproduct and safety parameter is still unknown of mesoxalic acid. It is therefore planed to investigate photo-oxidation of tartronic acid by semiconductors. Hence, this part of reported work may help to arouse the interdisciplinary interest about the side effects of photoproducts, where these are being used.

Keywords: Semiconductor, Titanium dioxide, Photo-oxidation, Tartronic acid, mesoxalic acid.