Organometallic Chemistry, Catalysis and Molecular Materials

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The main focus of this application is on development of catalysts for the selective oxidation of hydrocarbons by using environmentally friendly “green” oxidants, notably oxygen and hydrogen peroxide. The greatest challenge in this field is to develop a catalyst for selective oxidation of methane to methanol. Methane is a gas which can be transported by pipeline and is very useful for power generation or heating, but it is not easily used to power mobile vehicles. Methanol is a liquid which is much better suited to this purpose, and it is also a more valuable feedstock for synthesis of other chemicals, so there is a great incentive to succeed in this enterprise. Selective green oxidation of other alkanes and arenes would also be of great benefit to the economy, while reducing pollution. Naturally, this is a difficult problem and there is an intense, global research effort to solve it. Our approach is to study individual steps in the potential catalysis by platinum and palladium compounds. The most important steps are carbon-hydrogen bond activation of the alkane or arene, oxygen-oxygen bond activation of the oxidant, and reductive elimination of the oxidized hydrocarbon. The challenge is to understand what affects the ease of each reaction step, and to find a catalyst which facilitates all of them. We will use our expertise in synthesis, reactivity and mechanism in organometallic chemistry to push this field forward.