Radiation chemistry is he part of chemistry which deals with the chemical effects of ionizing radiation, as distinguished from photochemistry associated with visible and ultraviolet electromagnetic radiation (IUPAC definition).

Ionizing radiation is omnipresent in our world. In medicine, it provides the conceptual basis for current radiotherapies and those to be developed in the future (particle therapies). In the nuclear industry, they play a key role in plant safety and pollution issues. They are also found in the interstellar medium or in the atmospheres of planets and their moons, where they help shape the chemistry that takes place there.
In our group, we are interested in understanding the consequences of irradiation of matter by this radiation at atomic and molecular levels. For example, what are the mechanisms that induce the degradation of essential biomolecules such as DNA, proteins or membranes?
The particularity of the approaches developed by our team is to focus on the ultra-short times following irradiation, from the attosecond (10^-18 s) to the picosecond (10^-12 s), and sometimes beyond using simulation approaches. These time scales are still poorly understood, and simulation is set to play a key role in complementing experience.

To this end, we are carrying out dedicated developments in theoretical physical chemistry, mainly based on density functional theory (see Methodogical developments).

We have recently written a comprehensive journal article describing the challenges posed by ab initio molecular simulation of the interaction of matter with ionizing radiation and a description of the state of the art (as in 2020).