Project description
Innovative molecular engineering approaches lead to unprecedented main-group catalysts
Catalysis is critical to almost all chemical reactions of socioeconomic significance, speeding the rate of chemical reactions to make production feasible on large scales. Transition-metal catalysts have been the workhorse of chemical bond activation for decades. The push for greener and more sustainable chemistry has spawned new catalysts made from abundant and inexpensive alternatives from so-called main group elements. The EU-funded B-yond project will develop novel molecular engineering strategies to design groundbreaking main-group catalysts based on unprecedented molecular architectures. These pioneering catalysts will spur innovation related to sustainable and cost-effective chemical processes.
Objective
The activation of chemical bonds is fundamental to every chemical transformation. While reactions mediated by transition-metal catalysts are known for more than a century, the last decade witnessed spectacular developments in the emerging area of catalysis mediated by non-metallic species. Among these new chemical entities made from earth-abundant and inexpensive main-group elements, Lewis acid-base pairs and bifunctional element/ligand systems mimicking the behavior of transition-metals rapidly revolutionized the activation modes of chemical bonds.
In the project B-yond, I will establish new molecular engineering strategies and develop unprecedented main-group catalysts embedded in cage-shaped and curved molecular scaffolds. Ground-breaking molecules escaping the established structural theories will become the initial focus of my project, including the creation of non-planar B, Al, C and Si centered Lewis superacids with unmatched reactivities. I will push the frontiers of knowledge of chemical bonding by exploring unusual boron-elements bonding situations and advance the design of main-group catalysts beyond the state-of-the-art. Unprecedented C-H bond functionalization processes will be developed and exploited for hydrocarbons transformation through the concept of “low reorganization energy catalysts”. The activation of dinitrogen with unique main-group superacids and bases will finally be tackled, a pioneering step toward the uncharted territory of catalytic N2 activation and conversion without transition-metal complexes.
These goals will be accomplished through a multidisciplinary approach built on my expertise in mechanistic investigations, spectroscopic and kinetics methods, organometallic and main group chemistry. The project B-yond will deliver extraordinary solutions for chemists to reach new chemical reactivities beyond the actual limits and will inspire scientists to develop innovative sustainable and cost-effective chemical processes.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-BasedHost institution
5000 Namur
Belgium