Coordination Funds

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Fine chemicals are very important as raw materials for the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients, polymers, cosmetics and detergent additives. Designing and operating an efficient and sustainable process in accordance with green chemistry principles, i.e. close to zero waste, for the production of a high-value fine chemical is a very demanding task. It involves several challenges: 1) identification of a multi-step chemical transformation path based on highly active, selective and stable catalysts for each step, 2) selection of suitable molecular building blocks to make the final target product, 3) selection of environmentally friendly solvents for all reaction and separation steps, 4) elucidation of the underlying reaction mechanisms and kinetics as a prerequisite for optimal reactor design and operation, 5) identification of efficient separation strategies for catalysts, solvents, unconverted reactants and by-products, 6) establishment of powerful purification methods for the final target product, 7) optimal design of an integrated reaction-separation system, and 8) optimal control of the overall production process to ensure stable operation. The central hypothesis of the proposed DFG Research Unit is that decisions on catalysts, solvents, additives, separation materials, devices and process operating conditions should be included in an integrated design methodology, supporting the simultaneous consideration of all essential variables available on the molecular level, phase level, process unit level and plant level. Thereby one can identify novel fine chemicals’ production processes that feature high productivity, high product quality and low waste. The suggested integrated design methodology will be developed and used for the design and operation of production processes for the multi-step catalytic synthesis of two pharmaceutically or biologically active examples of substance classes: a) homophenylalanine-based compounds, and b) long alkyl chain amino acids and amino alcohols. The chosen research approach requires close interdisciplinary cooperation between experts from the fields of catalysis, technical chemistry, chemical engineering and process systems engineering. Against this background, a team of scientists from Rostock (Prof. Matthias Beller, Prof. Udo Kragl, Dr. Christoph Kubis) and Magdeburg (Prof. Achim Kienle, Prof. Nora Kulak, Prof. Jan von Langermann, Prof. Heike Lorenz, Prof. Andreas Seidel-Morgenstern, Prof. Kai Sundmacher) was formed, who contribute complementary core competencies to the DFG Research Unit.