Increasing crop yields with molecular heater technology Jack Woolley 1 , Natercia. d. N. Rodrigues 1 , Josene. M. Toldo 2 , Benjamin Rioux 3 , Chris Groves 4 , Xandra Schrama 5 , Jimmy Alarcan 6 , Temitope. T. Abiola 1 , Matthieu M. Mention 3 , Mariana T. do Casal 2 , Wybren Jan Buma 7,8 , Michael N.R. Ashfold 8 , S.E. Greenough 1 , Albert Braeuning 6 , Teun Munnik 5 , Keara Franklin 4 , Florent Allais 3 , Mario Barbatti 2,9 and Vasilios. G. Stavros 1 1 Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK, 2 CNRS, ICR, Aix Marseille University, Marseille, France, 3 URD Agro-Biotechnologies Industrielles (ABI), CEBB, AgroParisTech, 51110 Pomacle, France, 4 School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS81TQ, UK, 5 Section Plant Cell Biology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 6 Department of Food Safety, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Max-Dohrn-Str. 8-10, 10589, Berlin, Germany, 7 Van ‘t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 8 Institute for Molecules and Materials, FELIX Food security is fast-becoming one of the most pressing issues of the 21st century. As a result of increasing climate instability, crop growth is now routinely affected by adverse weather patterns which can result in crop death. We have developed molecular heaters to provide protection to plants against cold and frost damage. These molecular heaters act as light-to-heat agents, transferring energy from absorbed sunlight into heat delivered to the plant. Here, we focus on one potential molecular heater, sinapic diacid (SDA).Characterizing its photophysical mechanisms by employing ultrafast laser spectroscopy techniques combined with computational calculations; we have assessed its light-to-heat energy transfer performance to plant leaves with in vivo methods; and finally explored key toxicological endpoints through in silico studies. Our results show that SDA transfers energy efficiently and increases the plant leaf temperature by approximately 0.2 °C after 30 minutes of sustained irradiation with no alerts to human toxicity. Laboratory, Radboud University, 6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 9 School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock’s Close, Bristol, UK
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