CAREER: CAS: Understanding How Catalyst Modification Impacts Performance Thermodynamic and Kinetic Parameters Pertinent to Catalytic Hydrogenation of Polar Carbonyl Bonds

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To meet our future energy needs, new chemical reactions that use carbon dioxide (CO2) and other waste products to produce fuels and chemical feedstocks need to be developed. The use of CO2 as a starting material is challenging because it is a gas and not very reactive. Scientists like Dr. Saouma at the University of Utah develop cheap and readily-available catalysts to speed up these reactions. This research project focuses on developing an understanding of how catalyst structure impacts the catalyst performance. This knowledge allows more efficient and effective better catalysts to be prepared. Dr. Saouma is actively engaged in outreach activities that aim to increase female representation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields. She is an instructor and mentor for the College of Science’s ACCESS program, an intensive summer-long program for incoming freshman women that provides them with a comprehensive view of how energy is produced and used in our society. A survey of high school seniors in Utah indicates that prior to college a gender gap exists in students interested in STEM fields. To help offset this, Dr. Saouma is developing an offshoot of ACCESS that is geared towards increasing the number of rising ninth grade women. participating in science.With funding from the Chemical Structure, Dynamics and Mechanisms-B and the Chemical Catalysis Programs of the Chemistry Division, Dr. Saouma of the University of Utah is developing a fundamental understanding that correlates the thermodynamic properties of a catalyst with catalyst performance for systems that reduce carbonyl bonds. The research measures how ligand and metal identities impact parameters such as hydricity and propensity to add H2 in systems that undergo metal ligand cooperativity and these characteristics are compared through equilibrium measurements. These measurements are also correlated to the catalyst performance in terms of kinetics, mechanism, and scope. Parallel work on developing ligands that are designed to allow separate tuning of the thermodynamic parameters is also under investigation. Dr. Saouma is part of the College of Science’s ACCESS program, whose mission is to increase the representation of women in leadership in the STEM disciplines. In addition to mentoring and instructing the incoming freshman women of ACCESS, Dr. Saouma is developing a sister program that will encompass a summer camp for rising 9th graders, to help address the gender discrepancy in STEM interest that exists amongst high school students in Utah.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.