Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Cleave and couple: Fully sustainable catalytic conversion of renewable resources to amines

Objective

Amines are crucially important classes of chemicals, widely present in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and surfactants. Yet, surprisingly, a systematic approach to obtaining this essential class of compounds from renewables has not been realized to date.
The aim of this proposal is to enable chemical pathways for the production of amines through alcohols from renewable resources, preferably lignocellulose waste. Two key scientific challenges will be addressed: The development of efficient cleavage reactions of complex renewable resources by novel heterogeneous catalysts; and finding new homogeneous catalyst based on earth-abundant metals for the atom-economic coupling of the derived alcohol building blocks directly with ammonia as well as possible further functionalization reactions. The program is divided into 3 interrelated but not mutually dependent work packages, each research addressing a key challenge in their respective fields, these are:
WP1: Lignin conversion to aromatics; WP2: Cellulose-derived platform chemicals to aromatic and aliphatic diols and solvents. WP3: New iron-based homogeneous catalysts for the direct, atom-economic C-O to C-N transformations.

The approach taken will embrace the inherent complexity present in the renewable feedstock. A unique balance between cleavage and coupling pathways will allow to access chemical diversity in products that is necessary to achieve economic competitiveness with current fossil fuel-based pathways and will permit rapid conversion to higher value products such as functionalized amines that can enter the chemical supply chain at a much later stage than bulk chemicals derived from petroleum. The proposed high risk-high gain research will push the frontiers of sustainable and green chemistry and reach well beyond state of the art in this area. This universal, flexible and iterative approach is anticipated to give rise to a variety of similar systems targeting diverse product outcomes starting from renewables.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

ERC-STG - Starting Grant

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) ERC-2015-STG

See all projects funded under this call

Host institution

UNIVERSITAET GRAZ
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 62 500,00
Address
UNIVERSITATSPLATZ 3
8010 GRAZ
Austria

See on map

Region
Südösterreich Steiermark Graz
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 62 500,00

Beneficiaries (2)

My booklet 0 0