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

路易斯维尔大学的Sachin Handa博士在化学系化学催化项目和促进竞争性研究的既定项目（EPSCoR）的支持下，正在开发促进水中有机反应的催化剂——水是一种绿色、安全、丰富的进行化学合成的介质。尽管有机反应具有令人满意的特性，但通常不是在水中进行的，因为用于构建分子的化合物和催化剂通常不能在水中溶解。胶束通过形成小袋来溶解有机反应的组分，从而提供了一种解决方案。Handa团队正在研究金属纳米颗粒催化剂（高表面积金属颗粒）与特定类型胶束的相互作用，以更好地了解这种环境是如何改变的，在某些情况下是如何提高催化剂性能的。同时，新的反应正在用这些系统进行研究。为了补充这些活动，Handa博士还领导了一项名为“更美好的社会，更绿色的地球”的倡议，其目标是培训来自代表性不足群体的高中生，让辍学的学生重新融入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理解纳米催化剂-胶束相互作用的基本性质，这种相互作用支持、控制和改善了水中的有机反应。他们正在利用系统的结构变化对两亲化合物进行优化，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更长的寿命。这些结构-活性关系的研究依赖于几种分析技术的结合使用，包括动态光散射、低温透射电子显微镜、红外光谱、核磁共振光谱和x射线光电子光谱。此外，将开发混合金属纳米颗粒催化剂来研究这些体系中的金属协同性，并探索新的转化用于脱去离中心化和三氟甲基化反应。同时，这项工作还有助于培训各种各样的学生开发可持续过程的催化剂。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。

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.