In vitro Photo‐Oxidation of Pyruvate to Acetyl: A Main Source for the Formation of Acetyl Coenzyme A in the Citric Acid Cycle to Perform Biochemical Reactions

The kinetics of photooxidation of pyruvate was investigated in presence of zinc oxide catalyst under illumination of visible light. The influence of different parameters such as concentrations of reactants, amount of catalyst and irradiation time was studied on the redox reaction under pseudo‐first order conditions. The results indicated that amount of catalyst, presence of electron accepter in solution and irradiation time was the key factors influencing the efficiency of photo‐oxidation of pyruvate to acetyl.