CAREER: Understanding Metal-Micelle Cooperativity for Selective Catalysis in Water

在化学系化学催化计划和既定的促进竞争研究计划(EPSCoR)的支持下，路易斯维尔大学的Sachin Handa博士正在开发促进水中有机反应的催化剂--一种进行化学合成的绿色、安全和丰富的介质。尽管具有理想的特性，但有机反应通常不会在水中进行，因为用于构建分子的化合物和催化剂通常不能溶于水。胶束提供了一种解决方案，它创建了一个小口袋，在那里有机反应的成分可以溶解。汉达团队正在研究金属纳米颗粒催化剂(高比表面积金属颗粒)与特定类型胶束的相互作用，以更好地了解这种环境如何改变，在某些情况下，催化剂性能是如何改善的。同时，正在用这些系统研究新的反应。为了补充这些活动，汉达博士还领导了一项名为“更好的社会，更绿色的星球”的倡议，旨在培训来自代表性不足群体的高中生，让停学的学生重新进入STEM(科学、技术、工程和数学)学科的学习，以及在当地教堂、寺庙和清真寺开展社区STEM参与活动。Sachin Handa和他的研究小组正在努力更好地了解纳米催化剂-胶束相互作用的基本性质，这些相互作用支持、控制和改善水中的有机反应。他们正在利用两亲分子的系统结构变化来询问优化，并深入了解微细胞纳米催化剂如何支持水中不稳定中间体的更长寿命。这些结构-活性关系研究依赖于多种分析技术的组合使用，包括动态光散射、低温电子显微镜、红外光谱、核磁共振光谱和X射线光电子光谱。此外，还将开发混合金属纳米粒子催化剂来研究这些体系中的金属协同作用，并将探索脱消旋化和三氟甲基化反应的新转化。这项工作同时服务于培训不同群体的学生开发可持续过程的催化剂。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 the support of the Chemical Catalysis Program within the Division of Chemistry, and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), Dr. Sachin Handa of the University of Louisville is developing catalysts that promote organic reactions in water - a green, safe, and abundant medium for performing chemical synthesis. Despite its desirable features, organic reactions are not usually performed in water because the compounds and catalysts used to build the molecules usually cannot dissolve in water. Micelles provide a solution by creating small pockets where the components of organic reactions can dissolve. The Handa group is studying the interaction of metal nanoparticle catalysts (high surface area metal particles) with a specific type of micelle to better understand how this environment alters, and in some cases improves, catalyst performance. Simultaneously, new reactions are being investigated with these systems. To complement these activities, Dr. Handa is also leading an initiative called “Better Society, Greener Planet” that targets the training of high school students from underrepresented groups, the reintegration of discontinued students into studies in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines, and community STEM engagement activities at local churches, temples, and mosques.Dr. Sachin Handa and his research group are working to better understand the fundamental properties of nanocatalyst-micelle interactions that support, control, and improve organic reactions in water. They are using systematic structural changes to the amphiphile to interrogate optimization and gain insight into how micellular nanocatalysts support longer lifetimes of unstable intermediates in water. These structure-activity relationship studies rely on the combined use of several analytical techniques, including dynamic light-scattering, cryo-TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy), IR (Infra-red) spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. In addition, mixed metal nanoparticle catalysts will be developed to investigate metal-cooperativity in these systems and new transformations are to be explored for deracemization and trifluoromethylation reactions. This work is simultaneously serving to train a diverse group of students in the development of catalysts for sustainable processes.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.