Sustainable Catalysis by Design
Catalysis is a powerful tool for improving the energy and resource efficiency of technologically important chemical transformations, whilst also paving the way to new areas of molecular science and methods for remediating anthropomorphic activity. The sustainable catalysis by design community brings together experts from across the EUTOPIA European University alliance and beyond to exploit the synergy between experiment and theory to deliver next generation catalysis technologies for a more sustainable future.
The programme has received funding from the European Union’s Erasmus + programme, under the grant agreement number 612361 EUTOPIA-2050
Active research projects
Photocatalysis - Using light to drive chemical reactions
Designing new efficient photocatalysts built from earth abundant metals. New understanding of electronic structure will allow design of cluster catalysts that efficiently absorb sunlight to promote challenging photoredox reactivity in useful organic transformations.
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👥 Pike/De Proft/Tielens
Green chemistry using greenhouse gases
Nitrous oxide (laughing gas, N2O) is a potent greenhouse gas and ozone depleting substance. Guided by computational insights, we are developing new catalytic methods for repurposing this robust triatomic gas in chemical synthesis using thermally robust complexes of the late transition elements.
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👥 Lapointe/Chaplin/Alonso
Chalcogen bond directed organic synthesis
The development of catalysts often focusses on improvements in catalyst activity. In contrast, changing catalyst selectivity is significantly harder and often overlooked, but essential for improving the efficiency of catalysis. We are exploring a collaborative computational and synthetic approach to design next generation catalysts that operate through chalcogen bonding to provide unprecedented product selectivity.
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👥 Greenhalgh/De Proft/Alonso
Organometallic chemistry of entangled alkanes
Selective intermolecular C–H bond activation reactions mediated by transition metal complexes are one of chemistry’s holy grails. As a prerequisite for rational catalyst design, mechanical chelation is being explored as a tool to study and understand the science underpinning the coordination and activation of alkanes.
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👥 Chaplin/Alonso