Project description
A route to efficient and sustainable methane functionalisation
Methane, the main ingredient found in natural gas, is used chiefly as a burning fuel; alternatively, it can be converted into a useful mixture called synthesis gas. Despite advances in the field, methane’s versatile use is hindered by its low intrinsic reactivity. The principal strategy the EU-funded BECAME project will follow to increase methane's reactivity is to use one transition metal complex to activate the carbon-hydrogen bonds, and another transition metal complex to catalyse the methylation process. BECAME researchers expect the proposed method to reveal more about catalytic cross-coupling reactions and carbon-hydrogen activation, and serve as a fundamental basis for efficient and sustainable methane functionalisation.
Objective
One of the remaining primary challenges in modern chemistry is the development of clean, energy- and cost-efficient catalytic processes that can allow to convert simple and abundant chemical feedstocks into high value-added products. Given the vast reserves of methane from natural gas, available worldwide, the direct use of the simplest alkane as source of fuels and chemicals could have a great impact in our society. However, methane´s low intrinsic reactivity has rendered its use extremely difficult for purposes beyond aerobic combustion and the production of syngas. Despite some recent advances in the field, a general strategy for a diverse and versatile use of methane is elusive.
The overall aim of this proposal is the development of a new paradigm in catalysis which can provide new catalytic processes that allow direct methane functionalization by using it as a methylating reagent in a variety of C-C bond forming reactions.
The approach described in this proposal is based on a cooperative interaction between two transition metal complexes in which an early transition metal is responsible for the methane C-H activation and a late transition metal is the actual catalyst of the methylation process. The link between these two processes is a transmetalation step and will be used to transfer the mechanism of typical cross-coupling reactions to the field of methane functionalization.
New pathways for the direct use of methane in reactions such as allylic alkylation, conjugate addition, cross-coupling, C-H methylation and alkene hydromethylation will be developed based on this novel bimetallic catalytic strategy.
It is envisioned that the proposed research will lead to a new concept at the interface of catalytic cross coupling reactions and C-H activation. It will contribute to the fundamental understanding of these two reactions and will provide the basis for a new technology for energy efficient and environmentally friendly, thus sustainable, methane conversion.
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Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantHost institution
15782 Santiago De Compostela
Spain