DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHLY ACTIVE AND SELECTIVE GOLD PALLADIUM ALLOY CATALYSTS AIDED BY MICROREACTION TECHNOLOGY

在目前的提案中，我们希望启动一项多学科研究，通过两个有着良好记录的研究小组之间的合作，通过催化氧化化学中间体来开发绿色制造的新系统，一个研究小组在催化剂发现方面，另一个研究小组在微反应技术方面。这种专业知识的结合将提供与制药、精细和散装化学品行业相关的新技术和催化化学见解，这些见解将克服目前由于没有合适的催化技术而使用化学计量氧化剂的问题。目前的这些工艺是非绿色的，会产生大量废物，是环境污染的来源。我们计划解决这一问题，设计新的、绿色的、无溶剂的、催化的氧化工艺，它将使用分子氧作为氧化剂，从而消除目前使用的工艺的缺点和非绿色。通过将催化化学和微反应工程相结合，我们的目标是发现和开发全新的选择性催化途径，这将为选择性氧化催化和环境友好型催化过程提供新的机会。这将使用金和黄金合金催化剂和分子氧作为化学计量比的氧化剂。微型工程反应器为催化剂开发提供了一个很好的工具，特别是对于快速放热催化反应。这是由于存在较小的质量和热传递距离以及改进的热管理。这些优势已经在以前的EPSRC项目中得到了证明，该项目是众所周知的在银上合成甲醛的项目。利用开发的专业知识，并启动协同化学/化学工程合作，我们现在希望着手寻找新的高活性和选择性的催化剂，以挑战使用分子氧的氧化反应。这将不仅通过利用微工程反应堆增强的质量和热传递属性来实现，还将通过利用其新展示的用于现场研究的能力来实现。这样，催化剂的开发将由独特的工具和现代技术以及对反应机理的更深入了解来指导。

In the present proposal we wish to initiate a multidisciplinary study that will enable development of novel systems for green manufacture by catalytic oxidation of chemical intermediates via collaboration between two research teams with strong track records, one in catalyst discovery and the other in microreaction technology. This combination of expertise will provide new technology and catalytic chemistry insights of relevance to the pharmaceutical, fine and bulk chemicals industry that will overcome present problems where stoichiometric oxidants are used due to the non-availability of suitable catalytic technology. Such current processes are non green, produce significant waste and are a source of environmental pollution. We plan to address this aspect and design new, green, solvent-free, catalysed oxidation processes which will utilise molecular oxygen as the oxidant, thereby eliminating the disadvantages and non-greeness of the currently used processes. By combining catalytic chemistry and microreaction engineering, we aim to identify and exploit radically new selective catalytic pathways, which will provide new opportunities in selective oxidation catalysis and environmentally friendly catalytic processes. This will be undertaken using gold and gold alloy catalysts in conjunction with molecular oxygen as the stoichiometric oxidant.Microengineered reactors offer an excellent tool for catalyst development, particularly for fast exothermic catalytic reactions. This is due to the small distances present for mass and heat transfer and improved heat management. These advantages have been demonstrated in a previous EPSRC project for the well-known formaldehyde synthesis on silver. Using the expertise developed and launching a synergistic chemistry/chemical engineering collaboration we now wish to embark on the quest for new highly active and selective catalysts for challenging oxidation reactions using molecular oxygen. This will be accomplished not only by exploiting the enhanced mass and heat transfer attributes of microengineered reactors, but also their newly demonstrated capabilities for in situ studies. In this way, catalyst development will be guided by unique tools and modern technology, as well as deeper understanding of reaction mechanisms.