Project description
Innovative low-coordination cooperative bimetallic catalysts
Carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O) and ammonia (NH3) are cheap, abundant gases that can supply carbon, oxygen and nitrogen building blocks for greener synthetic chemistry. However, their bonds are very strong and difficult to break. Innovative catalytic solutions are urgently needed. The ERC-funded BiMetalGAS project aims to develop two families of heterobimetallic complexes specifically designed to activate CO2, N2O and NH3. The cooperative bimetallic catalysts will also have very low-coordination environments. This will enable them to reduce the existing energetic barriers via metal-metal cooperation or by introducing alternative pathways based on bimetallic synergisms. In addition, the catalysts will be highly tuneable and have multi-site molecular reactivity which is not possible to achieve with mononuclear complexes.
Objective
The catalytic conversion of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and ammonia poses a major challenge in modern chemistry due to the high inertness of their strong chemical bonds. These gaseous molecules are abundant and cheap. Therefore, their use as C1, O1 and N1 building blocks in synthetic chemistry entails remarkable environmental and economic advantages. Nonetheless, there are yet many limitations to meet their true synthetic potential and industrial applicability, which clearly demands innovative catalytic solutions.
In BiMetalGAS, I will develop two unique families of tailor-made heterobimetallic complexes specifically designed for the catalytic activation of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and ammonia.
The two types of cooperative bimetallic catalysts are: (i) highly polarized bimetallic complexes and (ii) transition metal/heavier tetrylene (Ge, Sn) compounds. The high polarization of the former and the distinct and flexible bonding of the latter, will enable the activation and cleavage of the strong bonds within CO2, N2O and NH3. Importantly, these systems will share for the first time the key feature of exceptionally low-coordination environments, a design principle mostly underdeveloped in bimetallic chemistry. This will unlock the main mechanistic bottlenecks associated to highly challenging catalytic transformations of these gaseous molecules by reducing the existing energetic barriers through metal-metal cooperation or by introducing alternative pathways based on bimetallic synergisms. Of high synthetic feasibility, the targeted catalysts will offer a range of tunable features and a landscape of multi-site molecular reactivity unattainable for mononuclear complexes.
This project will offer cutting-edge science to transform cheap and abundant, yet largely inert gaseous molecules. Through groundbreaking bimetallic synergies, BiMetalGAS will set new grounds towards a more sustainable production of large-scale commodity chemicals with broad ranging applications.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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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.
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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.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) ERC-2024-COG
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28006 Madrid
Spain
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