Giuseppe Cilento, Italian-born Brazilian photochemist (Sorrento, Italy 21 July 1923 – São Paulo 31 October 1994)

ACHIEVEMENTS

Published some 150 papers

Acknowledged worldwide for his studies on the formation of electronically excited products in biochemical systems.

First gained international fame for his study about expansion of electronic layers in sulphur valency

Discovered that some reactions produce light due chemical excitation in biological systems, identifying the way that the phenomenon occurs and that it may occur without the existence of radiation, introducing the notion of photochemistry in lightless

Demonstrated biochemical formation of excited products in triplet state

Realized important works about charge transfer involving compounds in triplet-excited electronic state 

Demonstrated that electronically excited triplet species can be generated in high yields in appropriate enzymatic systems

First to demonstrate the natural occurrence of biological complexes of charge transfer  

METHODS

A new method for ascertaining the coordination number in choleic acids. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 72:4272, 1950.

With D.L. Sanioto. A spectrophotometric method for determining association constants based on dilution. Zeit. F. Physikal.Chemie 223:333, 1963.