Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Biomass4Synthons (Straightening training, research and innovation capacities in the valorization of bio-renewable resource)
Período documentado: 2021-01-01 hasta 2022-03-31
The Biomass4Synthons project aspires to the development of modern and environmentally friendly tools in the field of synthetic organic chemistry via efficient transformation of bio-renewable based starting materials leading to valuable synthetic building blocks, that will ultimately contribute to the European Green Deal.
Centred at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon (FFUL), Portugal, the beneficiary Institute of Organic Chemistry with Centre of Phytochemistry Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IOCCP-BAS) Sofia, Bulgaria, and the non-academic partners: Spartax Chemicals, Lda (SPARTAX CHEM) and Science and Technology Park (BLC3) will benefit from the outcomes of this endeavour.
Together with the twinning Sorbonne Université (SU), Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna (UNIBO), Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (TU/e) and Universität Wien (UNIVIE), we aim to achieve the scientific excellence in the fields of process intensification by flow chemistry, photochemical and photocatalytic reactions, efficient metal catalysis C-H, C-C and C-heteroatom activation and domino reactions.
The scientific knowledge will be acquired through several actions such as short-term staff exchanges, mentoring and training events with the collaboration of the Twinning partners. Moreover, the Biomass4Synthons project will disseminate the results at scientific conferences and to the general public.
Centred at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon (FFUL), Portugal, the beneficiary Institute of Organic Chemistry with Centre of Phytochemistry Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IOCCP-BAS) Sofia, Bulgaria, and the non-academic partners: Spartax Chemicals, Lda (SPARTAX CHEM) and Science and Technology Park (BLC3) will benefit from the outcomes of this endeavour.
Together with the twinning Sorbonne Université (SU), Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna (UNIBO), Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (TU/e) and Universität Wien (UNIVIE), we aim to achieve the scientific excellence in the fields of process intensification by flow chemistry, photochemical and photocatalytic reactions, efficient metal catalysis C-H, C-C and C-heteroatom activation and domino reactions.
The scientific knowledge will be acquired through several actions such as short-term staff exchanges, mentoring and training events with the collaboration of the Twinning partners. Moreover, the Biomass4Synthons project will disseminate the results at scientific conferences and to the general public.
During the period covered by the report, several activities were executed to raise the knowledge in the field of synthetic organic chemistry of FFUL, in Portugal, and IOCCP-BAS, in Bulgaria.
The project devised activities to strengthen the knowledge and the training expertise of young researchers from the Widening Countries.
On-site trainings were specially designed for the young researchers linked to the project and took place at FFUL in hybrid mode, to spread the knowledge throughout and beyond the Biomass4Synthons community.
Through this period occurred 4 short term staff exchanges and 18 mentoring sessions (benefitting 7 mentees) from international experts. These activities will be maintained during the project, fostering the interest in the development of Biomass4Synthons.
The project enabled Biomass4Synthons members, such as the CO, WP Leaders and young researchers, to attend international conferences.
To encourage the knowledge translation into the industry a motivational lecture from the SME partner SPARTAX CHEM was executed at FFUL.
Moreover, the Biomass4Synthons members participated in several events to disseminate results and increase project awareness and the Biomass4Synthons network.
Successful expansion of the network outside the Biomass4Synthons consortium is being achieved by new collaborations with other national and international research groups and with the Widening countries’ industry sectors.
Communication actions were done through the project website and social media platforms to reach the scientific community and the general public by sharing daily activities and promoting project events. The project dedicated time to participate in activities driven by public engagement, and to promote high-school students’ interest in science.
Efforts to improve management and administrative skills in the Widening countries were acquired through short term staff exchange and online meetings with the Twinning Partner, SU.
21 projects were submitted by FFUL and IOCCP-BAS, being 2 of them in collaboration with SU. 10 of these projects were funded.
The actions performed so far greatly contributed to the increased scientific excellence of the Widening Countries’ Institutions.
The project devised activities to strengthen the knowledge and the training expertise of young researchers from the Widening Countries.
On-site trainings were specially designed for the young researchers linked to the project and took place at FFUL in hybrid mode, to spread the knowledge throughout and beyond the Biomass4Synthons community.
Through this period occurred 4 short term staff exchanges and 18 mentoring sessions (benefitting 7 mentees) from international experts. These activities will be maintained during the project, fostering the interest in the development of Biomass4Synthons.
The project enabled Biomass4Synthons members, such as the CO, WP Leaders and young researchers, to attend international conferences.
To encourage the knowledge translation into the industry a motivational lecture from the SME partner SPARTAX CHEM was executed at FFUL.
Moreover, the Biomass4Synthons members participated in several events to disseminate results and increase project awareness and the Biomass4Synthons network.
Successful expansion of the network outside the Biomass4Synthons consortium is being achieved by new collaborations with other national and international research groups and with the Widening countries’ industry sectors.
Communication actions were done through the project website and social media platforms to reach the scientific community and the general public by sharing daily activities and promoting project events. The project dedicated time to participate in activities driven by public engagement, and to promote high-school students’ interest in science.
Efforts to improve management and administrative skills in the Widening countries were acquired through short term staff exchange and online meetings with the Twinning Partner, SU.
21 projects were submitted by FFUL and IOCCP-BAS, being 2 of them in collaboration with SU. 10 of these projects were funded.
The actions performed so far greatly contributed to the increased scientific excellence of the Widening Countries’ Institutions.
The execution Biomass4Synthons has been guided to accomplish the main objective of producing cutting-edge research and training for the involved Widening Countries in the field of synthetic organic chemistry for the use of more modern and environmentally friendly tools to achieve the efficient transformation of bio-renewable based starting materials, leading to valuable synthetic building blocks. The team already achieved considerable advances beyond the state of the art on the proposed valorization of bio-renewable based starting materials resulting from furan-based molecules derived from carbohydrates such as furfural and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural; oleuropein from olive leaves; abietic and dehydroabietic acid from gum rosin as industrial product extracted from Pinus pinaster and lupanine alkaloid obtained from wastewater treatment of processed lupin beans. Those scientific advances, specifically in flow chemistry, photochemistry, electrochemistry, and metal catalysis prompted us to anticipate that until the end of the project Biomass4Synthons will potentiate the impact aligned with the proposed objectives namely:
- Intensification of scientific-technological excellence and competitiveness, that ultimately originates higher output quality of publications and patents;
- The executed mentoring and short-term staff exchange activities already created an enormous impact on the young Researchers' skills and research advances that will strengthen the knowledge and training expertise of Young Researchers. Due to that, is expected a considerable increase at the end of the project;
- The ongoing interaction with the industry sector potentially involved in the biomass commercial activities, in combination with the generation of higher knowledge, and scientific-technological achievements will reinforce the industrial sector that ultimately will create socio-economic impact.
- Intensification of scientific-technological excellence and competitiveness, that ultimately originates higher output quality of publications and patents;
- The executed mentoring and short-term staff exchange activities already created an enormous impact on the young Researchers' skills and research advances that will strengthen the knowledge and training expertise of Young Researchers. Due to that, is expected a considerable increase at the end of the project;
- The ongoing interaction with the industry sector potentially involved in the biomass commercial activities, in combination with the generation of higher knowledge, and scientific-technological achievements will reinforce the industrial sector that ultimately will create socio-economic impact.