Projects

Carbon-carbon bonds form the bedrock of organic chemistry, yet their synthesis is still dominated by the use of harmful and waste-generating coupling partners such as organometallic reagents and organohalides. Consequently, novel methods that forge C-C bonds directly from C-H bonds and biologically innate heterogroups are highly desirable. Unfortunately, the inherently lower reactivity of these molecules ...

There is a strong pressure on the chemical sector to develop low waste routes, with a minimum number of process steps, for production of high added value chemicals. Especially pharmaceutical production asks for products that are free of metal traces or residues of reactants, and isomerically pure. This provides a strong driver to invent new routes that activate C-H bonds, e.g. in aromatic molecules. However, aromatics often contain several ...

There is a strong pressure on the chemical sector to develop low waste routes, with a minimum

number of process steps, for production of high added value chemicals. Especially pharmaceutical

production asks for products that are free of metal traces or residues of reactants, and isomerically

pure. This provides a strong driver to invent new routes that activate C-H bonds, e.g. in aromatic

...

 X-ray absorption spectroscopy is a powerful technique to study the active compounds in catalytic cycles, since it is element specific and can thus selectively probe the catalytic species in complex mixtures. Its major drawbacks include the complexity of the data analysis when simultaneously studying multiple catalytic species and the lack of the required reference compounds for reactive intermediates. Here, we will develop a new and ...

Metal-catalyzed activation of C-H bonds has attracted much attention over the past decade for its potential to efficiently introduce complexity in organic molecules, without the need for prefunctionalization. However, even in the state-of-the-art systems, high noble metal loadings (5−10 mol %) are generally needed to achieve high yields, which impedes industrial implementation of this new synthetic strategy given the ...

Since their discovery, zeolites have become indispensable to the modern chemical industry, as evidenced by their widespread use and large-scale production. Their advantageous properties have led to a displacement of many processes formerly catalyzed homogeneously. Numerous commodity chemicals rely on zeolites as catalysts for their production. For example, the selective production of p-xylene using MFI-type zeolites has greatly benefited ...

Plastic wastes are so far underexplored as feedstocks for producing ‘upcycled’ materials. This project, focusing on the large available mass of end-of-life polyolefins, aims at selective oxidation of these hydrocarbon-type materials. As a first option, alcohol (and ketone) groups are created along the polyolefin chain. For this, selective Ti-containing zeolites and clean oxidants (e.g. hydrogen peroxide) are applied at ...

Direct arene C-H amination through (transition metal-catalysed) activation of the arene C-H bond has recently dawned as a fundamentally greener method to produce arylamines, rendering pre-functionalisation of the arene obsolete. Arylamines constitute ubiquitous intermediates in the production of widely diverse valuable chemicals, including not only bulk chemicals, such as polymer precursors and dyes, but ...

The design of oxidation catalysts that selectively oxidize C-H bonds to C-OH is one of the great challenges in today’s catalytic research. There is a great need for such processes, especially for the preparation of various alcohols and phenols. Inspired by nature, biomimetic catalysts are being developed that can accomplish oxidation in a simple step, by just inserting one O atom in the C-H bond. The oxygen is provided by an ...

C-H Activation allows for a more cost-effective and sustainable functionalization of aromatics. Its industrial implementation is however hampered by a low regioselectivity, by the use of costly stoichiometric oxidants, or by the hazardous use of pressurized oxygen. In this proposal, we build upon our previous discovery of shape-selectivity in the oxidative arene-arene coupling, catalyzed by Pd-zeolites. The zeolite-coordinated Pd is capable ...