Photophysics of Biological and Biomimetic Sunscreen Molecules

The varied shortcomings of existing commercial sunscreens have stimulated research into alternative UV absorbers. In recent years, these efforts have focused on natural and nature‐inspired molecules. Many organisms across taxonomic kingdoms have developed photoprotective regimes, many of which involve the use of small UV‐absorbing molecules. In this review, we summarize recent developments in evaluating the efficacy of these natural UV filter molecules. We discuss the results from time‐resolved spectroscopy experiments and computational studies which have helped to identify photophysical motifs involved in these molecules’ excited‐state relaxation and discuss the exploitation of these motifs for biomimetic design.