Project description
Earth-abundant pnictogens support sustainable catalysis
Chemical manufacturing underpins modern industry, and it relies heavily on catalysis. Most catalytic processes still use rare, costly and geopolitically sensitive transition metals such as rhodium, palladium and iridium. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the PICNIC project aims to pioneer the replacement of these critical metals with earth-abundant elements from the pnictogen group – specifically antimony and bismuth. By unlocking the catalytic potential of these overlooked elements for carbon-fluoride bond activation and enantioselective transformations, PICNIC seeks to open entirely new chemical pathways previously inaccessible. Success could reduce industry’s dependence on critical raw materials, address the environmental persistence of fluorinated compounds and advance sustainable catalysis aligned with European Green Deal objectives.
Objective
The European chemical industry is a global leader, generating over €655 billion in annual sales and 12% of manufacturing employment. Catalysis underpins most chemical manufacturing, yet current processes still rely heavily on scarce, expensive, and geopolitically sensitive transition metals (TMs), such as rhodium, palladium or iridium. To ensure resource independence and achieve Horizon Europe’s strategic objectives, there is an urgent need for sustainable, cost-effective catalytic alternatives.
PICNIC, led by Dr Irene Sánchez Sordo (ISS), addresses this challenge by pioneering the use of low-valent pnictogen (Pn) species, focusing on Sb and Bi, as earth-abundant and inexpensive catalysts for carbon–fluoride bond activation and formation of new bonds. In addition, enantioselective redox transformations remain virtually inaccessible to main-group (MG) elements, leaving a critical knowledge gap. PICNIC will address this challenge by exploring the reactivity and mechanistic landscape of Pn(I)/Pn(III) redox processes, unlocking first-in-class catalytic methodologies based on readily available elements and tackling current issues related to persistence and bioaccumulation of organofluorine compounds in the environment. The project integrates rational ligand design, mechanistic studies, and catalytic development through a bottom-up strategy: from stoichiometric investigations to racemic catalysis, culminating in enantioselective applications.
PICNIC’s multidisciplinary approach bridges hardcore inorganic and organic methodologies, and leverages OP’s EU-wide collaboration network, including experts in computational chemistry and spectroscopy. By replacing scarce TMs with abundant MG elements, PICNIC aligns with the EU Green Deal 2050, the Horizon Europe Sustainable Development strategy, and multiple UN SDGs by reducing CO2 emissions and dependence on critical raw materials, thus enabling next-generation sustainable catalysis.
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: The European Science Vocabulary.
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.
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry transition metals
- natural sciences chemical sciences catalysis
- social sciences economics and business business and management employment
- natural sciences physical sciences optics spectroscopy
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Keywords
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.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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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.
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.
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-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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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.
SW7 2AZ London
United Kingdom
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.