The reduction of liquid effluents by the use of solid catalysts instead of liquids is of industrial and social interest. The use of heterogeneous catalysis permits the recycling of the catalyst, reduction of corrosion of the reactor and facilitates the separation of the products.

The project will investigate catalysis by solid bases. Preliminary work has shown that hydrotalcites suitably ion-exchanged and calcined are strong bases, which can catalyse aldolisations and alkylation of ketones. They are also interesting supports for palladium and induce a high selectivity for the aromatisation of alkanes. This is remarkable because palladium is not normally a good catalyst for this reaction, and an interesting field of research on support effects thus opens up.

The research will consist of: the synthesis of hydrotalcites with different compositions in order to modify their basicity; the characterization of basic strength by the use of selected molecular probes, and characterisation of supported metals by IR spectroscopy of adsorbed CO2; the catalytic applications of hydrotalcites to reactions following an anionic mechanism, and study of this mechanism in the heterogeneous reaction; and the investigation of the unusual properties of small metallic particles supported on hydrotalcite, in dependence of their basic strength.

The correlation between catalytic properties in monofunctional or bifunctional reactions and the number and strength of basic sites will be investigated.