A research team led by Kaifeng Wu (Chinese Academy of Sciences) has now introduced novel quantum dots with very low toxicity and very high performance.The team equipped the surface of the shell with special benzophenone ligands that "suck up" the electrons from the quantum dots, store them, and make them available for organic reactions.For example, the team was able to carry out reductive dehalogenations of aryl chlorides and additive-free polymerizations of acrylates—important reactions that run poorly or not at all by conventional photocatalysts.A second version was made by coating the surface with biphenyl ligands that can directly absorb energy from excited quantum dots.These produce four-membered rings (cyclobutanes or oxetanes, respectively), which are substances that are important starting materials in areas such as pharmaceutical development."