CAREER: CAS: Understanding How Catalyst Modification Impacts Performance Thermodynamic and Kinetic Parameters Pertinent to Catalytic Hydrogenation of Polar Carbonyl Bonds

为了满足我们未来的能源需求，需要开发利用二氧化碳和其他废物生产燃料和化学原料的新化学反应。使用二氧化碳作为起始材料是具有挑战性的，因为它是一种气体，反应性不强。像犹他大学的Saouma博士这样的科学家开发了廉价且容易获得的催化剂来加速这些反应。本研究项目的重点是发展对催化剂结构如何影响催化剂性能的理解。这些知识使我们能够制备出更高效、更有效的催化剂。Saouma博士积极参与旨在增加女性在科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）领域的代表性的外展活动。她是理学院ACCESS项目的讲师和导师，这是一个针对即将入学的女性新生的暑期密集项目，为她们提供了一个全面的关于我们社会中能源是如何生产和使用的观点。犹他州一项针对高三学生的调查显示，在进入大学之前，对STEM领域感兴趣的学生中存在性别差距。为了帮助弥补这一点，萨乌玛博士正在开发ACCESS的一个分支，旨在增加九年级女生的数量。参与科学。犹他大学的Saouma博士在化学结构，动力学和机理- b和化学部门的化学催化项目的资助下，正在发展一种基本的理解，即催化剂的热力学性质与减少羰基键的系统的催化剂性能之间的关系。该研究测量了配体和金属身份如何影响诸如在金属配体协同作用的体系中水合性和添加H2的倾向等参数，并通过平衡测量对这些特性进行了比较。这些测量结果在动力学、机理和范围方面也与催化剂性能相关。开发配体的平行工作也在研究中，这些配体的设计允许单独调整热力学参数。Saouma博士是理学院ACCESS计划的一部分，该计划的使命是增加女性在STEM学科领导中的代表性。除了对即将加入ACCESS的女性大一新生进行指导和指导外，萨乌玛博士还在开发一个姊妹项目，其中包括一个面向九年级新生的夏令营，以帮助解决犹他州高中生在STEM兴趣方面存在的性别差异。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。

To meet our future energy needs, new chemical reactions that use carbon dioxide (CO2) and other waste products to produce fuels and chemical feedstocks need to be developed. The use of CO2 as a starting material is challenging because it is a gas and not very reactive. Scientists like Dr. Saouma at the University of Utah develop cheap and readily-available catalysts to speed up these reactions. This research project focuses on developing an understanding of how catalyst structure impacts the catalyst performance. This knowledge allows more efficient and effective better catalysts to be prepared. Dr. Saouma is actively engaged in outreach activities that aim to increase female representation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields. She is an instructor and mentor for the College of Science’s ACCESS program, an intensive summer-long program for incoming freshman women that provides them with a comprehensive view of how energy is produced and used in our society. A survey of high school seniors in Utah indicates that prior to college a gender gap exists in students interested in STEM fields. To help offset this, Dr. Saouma is developing an offshoot of ACCESS that is geared towards increasing the number of rising ninth grade women. participating in science.With funding from the Chemical Structure, Dynamics and Mechanisms-B and the Chemical Catalysis Programs of the Chemistry Division, Dr. Saouma of the University of Utah is developing a fundamental understanding that correlates the thermodynamic properties of a catalyst with catalyst performance for systems that reduce carbonyl bonds. The research measures how ligand and metal identities impact parameters such as hydricity and propensity to add H2 in systems that undergo metal ligand cooperativity and these characteristics are compared through equilibrium measurements. These measurements are also correlated to the catalyst performance in terms of kinetics, mechanism, and scope. Parallel work on developing ligands that are designed to allow separate tuning of the thermodynamic parameters is also under investigation. Dr. Saouma is part of the College of Science’s ACCESS program, whose mission is to increase the representation of women in leadership in the STEM disciplines. In addition to mentoring and instructing the incoming freshman women of ACCESS, Dr. Saouma is developing a sister program that will encompass a summer camp for rising 9th graders, to help address the gender discrepancy in STEM interest that exists amongst high school students in Utah.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.