Workshop on Electroorganic Chemistry: from Synthesis to Chemical Manufacturing

在化学系和化学、生物工程、环境和运输系统系的支持下，爱荷华州立大学的Jean-Philippe Tessonnier、俄亥俄大学的Gerardine Botte和康奈尔大学的Song Lin牵头组织了一次研讨会，以应对广泛的有机电合成领域的挑战。化学界最近的研究揭示了通过电化学手段合成有机分子的新机会，而不是依赖于不可再生的化石碳原料的传统热反应。该项目支持一个研讨会，该研讨会将汇集化学、材料科学和工程界的专家，以确定该领域的状况，并确定跨不同社区的合作和趋同研究的机会，以促进对制造对广泛行业重要的有机分子的电化学的理解和应用。研讨会于2020年2月在弗吉尼亚州亚历山大市举行，来自学术机构、行业和国家实验室的约50人参加了研讨会。研讨会的参与者包括学生、早期研究人员和高级技术专家等不同的参与者。鉴于电化学与光伏设备、风力涡轮机和水电等可持续来源产生的电力的轻松集成，有机材料的电化学合成和化学加工成高价值产品是一个日益增长的研究领域。作为原材料的化石碳(煤炭、石油、天然气)的趋势以及最终可能的消除，将需要用氧化形式的碳(生物质、二氧化碳)来替代。反过来，这些氧化原料的转化将需要廉价和可持续的还原当量--这是今天不存在的，而电化学可以理想地解决这一问题。电化学和电催化为提高转化效率和合成新分子提供了独特的机会，这些新分子是热化学或光化学无法获得的。与此同时，工程界越来越多地认识到电化学的研究机会，以简化生物精炼厂的生物催化和化学催化，并从区域和社区规模的农业废物中生产化学品。还有发现和制造药品和精细化学品的机会。这些努力中的许多仍然是探索性的，因为仍然缺乏对这些转变所涉及的基本过程的基本了解。需要在合成化学、电化学、材料科学、多相催化和计算科学方面共同努力，以利用开发这项技术所需的变革性知识，推动其在工业中的实施，并创造新的价值链。为此，讲习班汇集了专家，以确定该领域的状况，并确定在不同社区进行协作和融合研究的机会，以促进对电化学的理解和应用，以在利用可再生原料和可持续能源的工艺中制造广泛的有机分子。参加研讨会的学生由能源部基础能源科学办公室提供的另一笔补助金支持。研讨会记录发表在一份著名的技术期刊上，向技术社区广泛传播成果。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With support from the Division of Chemistry and the Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems Division, Jean-Philippe Tessonnier of Iowa State University, Gerardine Botte of Ohio University, and Song Lin of Cornell University lead efforts to organize a workshop to address challenges in the broad field of organic electrosynthesis. Recent research by the chemistry community has revealed new opportunities to synthesize organic molecules by electrochemical means rather than by conventional thermal reactions that rely on non-renewable fossil carbon feedstocks. The project supports a workshop that will bring together experts from the chemistry, materials science, and engineering communities to identify the state of the field and identify opportunities for collaborative and convergent research across the various communities to advance understanding and application of electrochemistry for the manufacture of organic molecules important to a broad range of industries. The workshop is held in Alexandria, Virginia in February of 2020, and includes about 50 participants representing academic institutions, industry, and the national laboratories. The workshop participants include a diverse group of attendees including students, early-career researchers, and senior-level technical experts.Electrochemical synthesis and chemical processing of organic materials into high-value products is a growing research area given the facile integration of electrochemistry with electricity generated from sustainable sources such as photovoltaic devices, wind turbines, and hydroelectric power. The trend toward and likely eventual elimination of fossil carbon (coal, petroleum, natural gas) as a raw material will require replacement with oxidized forms of carbon (biomass, CO2). Conversion of these oxidized raw materials in turn will require inexpensive and sustainable reducing equivalents - something that does not exist today, and that electrochemistry can ideally address. Electrochemistry and electrocatalysis provide unique opportunities for increasing conversion efficiencies and for synthesizing new molecules that are not accessible thermochemically or photochemically. Simultaneously, the engineering community is increasingly recognizing research opportunities for electrochemistry to streamline biocatalysis and chemocatalysis in biorefineries, and to manufacture chemicals from regional- and community-scale quantities of agricultural waste. Opportunities also exist for discovery and manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals. Many of these efforts remain exploratory, as a fundamental understanding of the elementary processes involved in these transformations is still lacking. Concerted efforts in synthetic chemistry, electrochemistry, materials science, heterogeneous catalysis, and computational science are needed to harness the transformative knowledge required to develop this technology, push its implementation in industry, and create new value chains. To this end, the workshop brings together experts to identify the state of the field and identify opportunities for collaborative and convergent research across the various communities to advance understanding and application of electrochemistry for the manufacture of a broad range of organic molecules in processes that utilize renewable feedstocks and sustainable energy. Student attendance at the workshop is supported by a separate grant from the Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Science. Workshop proceedings are published in a prominent technical journal providing broad dissemination of outcomes to the technical community.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.