91ÊÓƵ

Dr.Eng. Mounir Maafi is the author of Photokinetics: a new perspective and inventor of the Φ-order kinetics. He is also a registered UN consultant/UNIDO international expert, and an active peer-reviewer for more than 30 national and international scientific journals. He has a versatile research experience that was facilitated by his chemical engineering background and a postgraduate diploma in spectroscopic methods for analysis of materials. His PhD (in Paris 7 University), which focused on storage of sunlight energy in electro-polymers, preluded four postdoctoral positions (France, Spain, Sweden and UK), that were held in international institutions including the Karolinska institute. He has also been an academic in four European universities, where he mainly taught chemistry, math, pharmacy, pharmaceutical and forensic students. Since he joined 91ÊÓƵ, he successfully supervised to completion (as first supervisor), several national and an externally funded international Ph.D., and Masters by research students. He contributed oral and poster presentations in numerous conferences (where he was invited to plenary presentations in two conferences).  

The research programmes he was involved in, required versatile skills in physical and analytical chemistry, mathematics and mathematical modelling of chemical systems, coding and simulation, numerical integration methods, predictive modelling and experimental design. The gathered expertise was pivotal to his research on photokinetics (i.e., kinetics of photoreactions) and actinometry (i.e., determination of the photon flux of a light source).

His work was devoted to rationalising photokinetics along the standards of kinetics. He has published in this area more than 46 papers in reputable (refereed) scientific journals. Almost each of these papers brought a new idea or conceptualisation to the field. Some of the important outcomes of his research included the discovery of the -order kinetics, unprecedented general explicit integrated rate-law equations to fit any trace of photo- and photothermal reactions, an explanation and solutions for the identifiability issues, mathematical procedures for kinetic elucidation (unravelling all reaction parameters), easy means to prove the variability of the quantum yield with irradiation wavelength, and handy actinometric methods (where he proposed a series of new actinometers for the 220-580 nm domain). The predictive potential of the new equations for many reaction situations has been proven experimentally and/or on numerically generated data.             

The research was based on detailed mathematical framework combining the theoretical equations of photokinetics with mathematical simulations and experimental data. The rational being that any new concept, formula or procedure must be tested by computer-generated data and as much possible be confronted to experiment.   

The shift of paradigm introduced by his research work in the subject of photokinetics contributes to a rationalisation of the subject and opens alternative avenues for further developments.

Chemistry for Health

Maafi, M. Photokinetics: A New Perspective, Springer: Berlin/Heidelberg, Germany, 2025; ISBN 978-3-031-98984-1 ()

Maafi, M. Photokinetics of Bimolecular reactions:  Analytically solvable rate-laws. Molecules 31, 84, 2026. DOI: 10.3390/molecules31010084

Maafi, M. Photokinetics of mixtures of independent reactions. Molecules 30, 4122, 2025. DOI: 10.3390/molecules30204122

Maafi, M. Photokinetics of photothermal reactions. Molecules 30, 330, 2025. DOI: 10.3390/molecules30020330

Maafi, M. Excitation Wavelength-Dependent Photochemistry. Photochem 4, 233-270, 2024 . DOI: 10.3390/ photochem4020015

Maafi, M. Photokinetics under polychromatic light. Frontiers in Chemistry  12, 1367276, 2024. DOI: 10.3389/fchem.2024.1367276

Maafi, M. Photokinetics under monochromatic light. Frontiers in Chemistry 11, 1233151, 2023. DOI: 10.3389/fchem.2023.1233151   

M Maafi. The potential of AB(1Φ) systems for direct actinometry. Diarylethenes as successful actimometers for the visible range. Phys Chem Chem Phys, 2010 12 (40), pp 13248-13254.

M Maafi and RG Brown. A mathematical analysis and elucidation of AB(2k,1φ) thermophotochromic kinetics. An analytical solution using pure kinetic data and considering as unknown The rate constants, quantum yield and both species’ spectra. Int J Chem Kinet, 41(4), pp 255 – 264 2009.

M Maafi. Spectrokinetic Methods for the Investigation of Photochromic and Thermo-Photochromic Spiropyrans. Molecules 13(9), pp 2260-2302 2008.

M Maafi.  Comment on “Photokinetic methods: A mathematical analysis of the rate equations in photochromic systems; by G Ottavi, F Ortica, G Favaro, Int J Chem Kinet, 1999 31, 303-313.” Int J Chem Kinet, 40, pp 524-525 2008.

M Maafi and RG Brown. The kinetic model for AB(1) systems. A Closed-form integration of the differential equation with a variable photokinetic factor.
J Photochem Photobiol A:Chem, 187, pp.319-324 2007.

• Modelling photoreactions and spectrokinetics
• Thermochromes and photochromic materials
• Drug phodegradation and stabilisation
• Drug specials
• Anticancer, synthetic hormone and cardiovascular drugs
• Cyclodextrin superamolecular systems
• Drug delivery systems
• Development of analytical methods for soil analysis.

• Spectroscopy/spectrochmistry
• Analytical chemistry
• Physical chemistry and thermodynamics
• Drug formulation and stability
• Project supervision at undergraduate and postgraduate levels MPhil and PhD.

Engineer, DEA, PhD

• • 91ÊÓƵVice Chancellors Distinguished Teaching Award.
• The Marquise index Who’s Who in the World, Editions 2008
• The Dictionary of International Biography, 34th edition, Cambridge 2008

Kinetic tools for the investigation of unimolecular and bimolecular photoreactions of drugs. Potential for actinometry. 7th International Meeting on the Photostability of Drugs and Drug Products (1–3 October 2008). M Maafi, London.

A semi empirical kinetic law for AB(2φ) systems. usefulness for direct actinometry. XXII IUPAC Symposium on photochemistry (28 July–1 August 2008), M Maafi, Gothenburg, Sweden.

A complete elucidation of AB(2k,1φ) ThermoPhoto-Chromic Kinetics. A Mathematically Analytical method based on Pure Kinetic Data. XXII IUPAC Symposium on photochemistry (28 July–1 August 2008), M Maafi, R G Brown, Gothenburg, Sweden.

First supervisor for the following PhD students: Damerdji Wassila, Lok Yan Lee, Leonie Hough.

In preparation: a research project on drugs stability.

E-Journal of chemistry and a referee for several journals.

Citation in international journals in the year 2011.

Angewandte Chemie - International Edition : Imprinting chemical and responsive micropatterns into metal-organic frameworks, Han S, Wei Y, Valente C, Forgan R S, Gassensmith J J, Smaldone R A, Nakanishi H, (...), Grzybowski B A, 50 (1), pp 276-279 2011.

Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology C: Photochemistry Reviews : Quantitative analysis of the dynamic behaviour of photochromic systems. Delbaere, S, Vermeersch,G, Micheau,J-C, 12(2), pp 74–105 2011.

Phys Chem Chem Phys: Tuning of switching properties and excited-state dynamics of fulgides by structural modifications, Ron Siewertsen, Frank Strübe, Jochen Mattay, Falk Renth and Friedrich Temps, 13, pp 3800-3808 2011.

European Journal of Organic Chemistry : Photochromism of Rotation-Hindered Furylfulgides Influenced by Steric Modifications, Frank Strübe, Ron Siewertsen, Frank D. Sönnichsen, Falk Renth, Friedrich Temps, Jochen Mattay, pp 1947–1955 2011.

Chemical Physics Letters : Deciphering the host–guest chemistry of Acridine Yellow and Cucurbit[7]uril: An integrated spectroscopic and calorimetric study, Brotati Chakraborty, Samita Basu, 507(1-3), pp 74-79 2011.

Photochemistry : Photochemistry of aromatic compounds. Mizuno,K, 38, pp 168-209 2011.

Journal of Molecular Liquids: Solvent effect on the spectroscopic properties of 6MAMC and 7MAMC, Melavanki,R M, Patil,N R, Kapatkar,S B, Ayachit,N H, Umapathy,S, Thipperudrappa,J, Nataraju,A R, 158 (2), pp 105-110 2011.

Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy : Comments on the determination of excited state dipole moment of molecules using the method of solvatochromism A Kawski, P Bojarski, 82 (1), pp 527-528 2011.

Photochemistry: Photochemistry of aromatic compounds. Mizuno,K, 38, pp 168-209 2011.

Photochemistry: Alkenes, alkynes, dienes, polyenes. Tsuno,T, 38, pp 110-142, 2011.

Book: Dey,D, Kumar Sarangi,M and Basu,S (2011) Chapter 9 : Hydrogen Bonding on Photoexcitation, in Hydrogen Bonding and Transfer in the Excited State, Volume I & II (eds K.-L. Han and G.-J. Zhao), John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester, UK.

Book : Timcheva,I and Nikolov,P (2011) Chapter 12 : Intermolecular Hydrogen Bonding in the Fluorescence Excited State of Organic Luminophores Containing Both Carbonyl and Amino Groups, in Hydrogen Bonding and Transfer in the Excited State, Volume I & II (eds K.-L. Han and G.-J. Zhao), John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester, UK.

Journal of Advanced Research in Physics: Solvent effects on the electronic absorption and fluorescence spectra, Mihaela Homocianu1, Anton Airinei and Dana Ortansa Dorohoi, 2(1), 011105, 2011.

Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry: Chemical reactions of benzophenone photoirradiated in 1,2-polybutadiene. Barboiu,V, Avadanei,M I, 222(1), pp 170-179 2011.

Journal of Molecular Liquids: On the ground and excited state dipole moments of dansylamide from solvatochromic shifts of absorption and fluorescence spectra. Tewari,N, Joshi,N K, Rautela,R, Gahlaut,R, Joshi,H C, Pant,S, 160(3), pp 150-153 2011.

Research Advance in the Effects of β-Cyclodextrin and Its Derivatives on Fluorescence Enhancement, Zhang Min, Zhang Yu-hao, Ma Liang , Vol 32, No 01 297 2011.