Synergistic, Multifunction Catalysts for Hydride Manipulation

在这个项目中，南加州大学的Travis Williams博士和他的团队正在开发新的双功能催化剂来加速燃料的生产。这种新型催化剂结合了两种能力，使它们能够在温和的温度下高效地工作。具体来说，催化剂将过渡金属与含色分子、路易斯酸或其他物质配对，以产生高附加值的化学产品。除了这些可能商业化的努力，特拉维斯教授还参与了几项教育推广活动；其中包括担任南加州大学学生主持的座谈会的导师，并使童子军参观卡塔利娜岛的生物柴油炼油厂。生物柴油计划将从难以管理的废物流中获得的用过的食用油转化为用于海水淡化的柴油。每年夏天，这些访问都会向数百名年轻人传授可持续发展的课程。在美国国家科学基金会化学部化学催化项目的资助下，南加州大学的特拉维斯·威廉姆斯博士和他的同事正在开发一种新的催化剂，这种催化剂将两种模式的催化反应结合在一个催化剂上。该小组正在扩展协同催化的概念，以推进形成和切割碳氢键的技术。该项目将喹啉光碱性的概念与非常成功的醇氧化催化剂结合起来，在金属（铱）配合物中实现了一流的临时光激活碱。这种双功能催化剂能够在一个催化循环中同时需要酸和碱的催化反应。该项目进一步部署了一种镍催化剂，用于二氧化碳到甲醇的转化。然后将这些最初的努力结合起来，形成一个混合系统，其中镍催化剂上的单电子氧化还原事件使双电子氢化物转移到铱催化剂上成为可能。除了这些努力，威廉姆斯博士还支持一个教育项目，其中包括在卡塔利娜岛示范生物柴油精炼厂。该设施与邻近的青年夏令营合作，每年夏天向数百名年轻人教授可持续发展和废物回收的课程。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

In this project, Dr. Travis Williams and his team at the University of Southern California are developing new bi-functional catalysts to speed up fuel production. The new catalysts combine two capabilities that allow them to operate at mild temperatures and with high efficiency. Specifically, the catalysts pair a transition metal with a color-containing molecule, a Lewis acid, or other species to produce high-value added chemical products. In addition to these potentially commercializable efforts, Professor Travis is involved in several educational outreach activities; These include acting as a mentor for the student-hosted colloquia at USC and enabling the Boy Scouts to visit a biodiesel refinery at Catalina Island. The biodiesel plan converts used cooking oil obtained from a hard-to-manage waste streams to diesel fuel for water desalination. The visits teach lessons of sustainability to hundreds of young people every summer. With funding from the Chemical Catalysis Program of NSF's Chemistry Division, Dr. Travis Williams at co-workers at the University of Southern California are developing new catalysts in which two modes of catalytic reactivity are combined in a single catalyst. The group is extending concepts in cooperative catalysis to advance technologies that form and cleave of carbon-hydrogen bonds. The project combines the concept of quinoline photobasicity with very successful alcohol oxidation catalysts to realize a first-of-class temporary, photo-activated base within a late-metal (iridium) complex. This bifunctional catalyst enables catalytic reactions where both an acid and base are needed in a single catalytic cycle. The project further deploys a nickel catalyst for carbon dioxide-to-methanol conversions. These initial efforts are then combined to generate a hybrid system in which two-electron hydride transfers to the iridium catalyst are enabled by the sequential one-electron redox events at the nickel catalyst. In addition to these efforts, Dr. Williams supports an education programs involving a demonstration biodiesel refinery at Catalina Island. This facility works with neighboring youth summer camps to teach lessons of sustainability and waste reclamation to hundreds of young people every summer.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.