Hierarchically Organized Metal Organic Catalysts for Continuous and Multi-batch Processes

Objective

Hierarchically organised metal organic catalysts shall be developed which can be easily recycled in multi-batch processes or which can be used in continuous processes without loosing the original advantages of the corresponding homogeneous soluble metal organic catalysts - high selectivity, activity and stability. The catalysts will be constructed using components at the nano-scale in a bottom-up approach. Hereby, catalytically active metal complexes will be linked with nanoparticles such as polymeric microgels, hyperbranched polymers or hybrid systems consisting of silsesquioxanes attached to hyperbranched polymers. Further hierarchical organisation of HiCat catalysts will be accomplished by interconnected networks formed from the assemblies of catalytic nanoparticles using end-functional T-responsive polymers that can interact with functionalities on the surface of the nanoparticles as binding agents. Recycling of the catalyst-nanoparticle entities in multi-batch operation will be studied utilizing the change of solubility of the polymer supported catalysts by external stimuli. Based on polymer-nanoparticles linked by T-responsive polymers, new types of films and membranes with graded porosity can be prepared by varying the size of the nanoparticles and the length of T-sensitive polymers. This opens new opportunities for integration of catalytic steps and separation within the hierarchically structured system and, hence for continuous reactor operation. The proposal combines the superiority of homogeneous metal-organic catalysts often possessing nearly 100 % selectivity with the advantage of efficient separation by grabbing a new concept for building up hierarchically organised catalytic systems. Structural principles of tailor-made ligands will be transferred into tailor-made functional surfaces of nanoparticles. For proof of principle of the concept, three types of reactions will be studied: olefin metathesis, CX coupling and enantioselective hydrogenation.

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.

• engineering and technology environmental engineering waste management waste treatment processes recycling
• natural sciences chemical sciences polymer sciences
• natural sciences chemical sciences catalysis
• engineering and technology nanotechnology nano-materials

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

• enatioselective hydrogenation
• hydroformylation
• hyperbranched polymers
• metal-organic catalysts
• nanoparticles
• olefin metathesis
• polymer microgels
• silsesquioxanes

Programme(s)

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

• FP7-NMP - Specific Programme "Cooperation": Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and new Production Technologies

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.

• NMP-2007-2.4-2 - Nanostructured catalysts with tailor-made functional surfaces

Call for proposal

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

FP7-NMP-2007-SMALL-1
See other projects for this call

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.

CP-FP - Small or medium-scale focused research project

Coordinator

Participants (8)