Project description
Brains beat brawn
The rational design of new molecules for applications, from energy to medicine and beyond, often faces a bottleneck in nature's unwillingness to have the reactions proceed. Scientists may know which atoms they want where, as well as the chemical building blocks available to disassemble and reassemble molecules like Legos. However, strong bonds between two atoms can be hard to break, making it difficult to remove an atom or group of atoms and add another in its place. The EU-funded PUSH-IT project is developing a novel route for the activation and functionalisation of strong bonds in a sustainable way, a key to unlocking the door to a new era of innovation in synthetic chemistry for many applications.
Objective
PUSH-IT aims to establish charge-separation within formal multiple bonds as a concept for the activation of strong bonds in redox catalysis. The project is motivated by sustainable chemistry and displays a bottom-up approach for new methods relevant for chemical synthesis as well as chemical energy conversion and storage.
Inspired by heterogeneous catalysis, we will “push electrons” through formal multiple bonds and translate new principles from main-group chemistry to metals, which readily change oxidation states. We propose these charge-separated, vicinal zwitterions as the “activated” key intermediates for the functionalization of strong bonds (C–C, C–H, C–O, N–H and O–H). Importantly, we anticipate complementary and hence hitherto elusive chemo- and regiodiscrimination to the state of the art due to the unprecedented nucleophilicity of these compounds. The targeted applications include both fine- and bulk chemical synthesis.
The interdisciplinary project focuses on coordination chemistry and combines inorganic and organic synthesis with catalysis and advanced spectroscopy. High-end computational design will guide all experiments. More specifically, hitherto unknown vicinal zwitterions of an earth-abundant alkaline earth metal (magnesium), late transition metals (palladium, platinum, gold), and a non-toxic heavy p-block element (bismuth) with carbon (terminal carbides), nitrogen (terminal imides) and oxygen (terminal oxides) atoms will be isolated using innovative and novel synthetic approaches. With these new and exciting molecular coordination compounds in hand, we will establish the stoichiometric activation and functionalization of strong bonds and will develop catalytic redox cycles.
Overall, this research project will introduce a novel mechanism for bond activation in catalysis, which will allow us to understand elementary steps on heterogeneous surfaces as well as invent new chemical transformations in homogeneous reaction media.
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 inorganic compounds
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry transition metals
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry alkaline earth metals
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry post-transition metals
- natural sciences chemical sciences catalysis
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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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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
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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.
ERC-STG - Starting Grant
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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) ERC-2020-STG
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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.
66123 Saarbrucken
Germany
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.