Creating Heterogeneous Organic Amines for Glucose Isomerization to Fructose

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This project targets the design of heterogeneous catalysts for the conversion of biomass to chemicals and fuels. The researchers will study catalyst structure and performance aspects related to catalyst stability, activity, and product selectivity. The project will support transition to a clean-energy economy by improving the design of catalysts for manufacturing fuels and chemicals from bio-renewable feedstocks rather than fossil sources. The project will involve an educational outreach component that will seek to increase participation of women and underrepresented students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.Specifically, the project will investigate the synthesis-structure-reactivity of aminosilanes immobilized on heterogeneous silica supports for the isomerization of glucose to fructose. A series of heterogeneous catalysts containing different aminosilane designs will be tested to determine how the structure of the aminosilane can be modified to increase catalyst stability. Identifying a stable aminosilane structure will have broad implications for catalytic materials for all liquid-phase chemistry. Further, the work will examine how the reaction selectivity can be increased through modifying the reaction conditions, including the concentration of glucose. The complex reaction mixtures will be analyzed using advanced mass spectrometry techniques to determine how glucose concentration impacts the species formed. Finally, spectroscopy techniques including nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) will be used to investigate amine-silanol interactions. These amine-silanol interactions have been implicated in reducing the activity of aminosilica materials. The spectroscopy will provide insights on how the structure of the aminosilane impacts amine-silanol interactions. The impact of the project can be substantial since it has the potential to provide new methods to create heterogeneous catalysts for aqueous phase reactions. The project involves a diverse team of students that will be trained in advanced catalytic material synthesis, characterization, and testing. More broadly, the project will broaden participation from underrepresented groups in STEM programs through interfacing with several existing programs at Ohio State University to demonstrate a classroom module to elementary school children to inspire future generations to pursue education in STEM-related fields.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.