Design and applications of main group element frameworks

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The proposal features four research projects and has two primary aims: to aid the training of highly qualified professionals, who will be the graduate and undergraduate students performing the proposed research, and to tackle several difficult problems of global relevance. A secondary aim is its contribution to the knowledge on coordination chemistry and catalysis in general. The first three projects are closely related in character and target the design of novel catalysts and catalyst components related to derivatives that the group has already investigated, for reactions such as the derivatization of very stable hydrocarbons such as alkanes, the use of ammonia as a carbon-free fuel, and the reduction of carbon dioxide with hydrogen. The use of ammonia as a carbon-free fuel is a particularly appealing and also challenging target, because ammonia is a much more trivial and inexpensive chemical in comparison to most other alternative fuels currently under investigation. It could be an outstanding alternative fuel if produced from hydrocarbons or coal via the water-gas shift reaction, coupled with carbon capture and storage. This is an already available technology. Even more appealing would be its production from electrolytic hydrogen generated using solar power, in the future. The proposal does not aim to transform ammonia into an alternative fuel, but to overcome one of the hurdles that currently prevent the use of ammonia as a fuel. This hurdle is the oxidation of ammonia with air to hydrazine. The fourth project aims to capitalize on what appears to be the very recent discovery or organic magnets in our laboratory. Its target is to confirm the discovery, explain its mechanism and improve the magnetic materials and their production. Magnetic materials are highly sought after because they have better processability in comparison to their metal counterparts, and would find applications in, for example, the information technology and data storage.