Research Initiation Awards: Tailored Carbon Nanotubes-Supported Nickel Nanoparticles for Carbon-Carbon Bond Forming Reactions in Batch and Continuous Flow

研究启动奖为历史上黑人学院和大学的初级和中级职业教师提供支持，他们正在建立新的研究项目或重新定向和重建现有的研究项目。预计该奖项将有助于进一步提高教师的研究能力和效率，改善家庭机构的研究和教学，并使本科生参与研究经验。 授予费耶特维尔州立大学的奖项支持纳米化学的研究。 更具体地说，它支持的研究，调查非均相催化剂的新合成，其中镍负载在碳纳米管上。 此外，本项目还邀请工科本科生参与研究活动，目的是开发一种直接、简单且具有成本效益的方法，用于制备负载在碳纳米管上的镍纳米颗粒（Ni/MWCNTs），作为碳-碳交叉偶联反应的高效多相纳米催化剂。该方法包括在球磨机的机械振荡下在环境温度下将相应的镍盐与碳纳米管干混，而不需要任何还原剂或溶剂。值得注意的是，用于制备这些纳米复合材料的过渡金属和固体载体都是廉价且高度丰富的。所制备的Ni/MWCNTs纳米粒子将用于在间歇和连续流动工艺条件下的交叉偶联反应。在这方面，微波能的使用将被研究作为一种替代的，方便的，绿色，和有效的热源，以开发必要的条件，催化反应。 拟议的研究不仅将解决碳-碳键形成反应的基本方面，而且还将有助于探索连续流技术（例如，FlowLab）用于转化为大规模生产有用的有机分子。该项目的这一部分将汇集最佳技术，开发具有直接工业适用性的技术，并将加快连续生产量生产技术的更广泛应用，用于通过利用流动中的交叉偶联催化形成主要键合来合成活性药物成分（API）。该项目对工业相关的商业应用和制药行业有潜在的好处，从而扩大了与制药公司未来合作和伙伴关系的机会。该奖项反映了NSF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。

Research Initiation Awards provide support for junior and mid-career faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities who are building new research programs or redirecting and rebuilding existing research programs. It is expected that the award helps to further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness, improves research and teaching at the home institution, and involves undergraduate students in research experiences. The award to Fayetteville State University supports research in nanochemistry. More specifically, it supports research that investigates novel synthesis of heterogeneous catalysts where nickel is supported on carbon nanotubes. Furthermore, the project engages undergraduate engineering students in the research activities.The aim of this project is to develop a straightforward, simple, and cost-effective method for preparation of nickel nanoparticles supported on carbon nanotubes (Ni/MWCNTs) to serve as an efficient heterogeneous nanocatalyst for carbon-carbon cross coupling reactions. The method involves a dry mixing of the corresponding nickel salt with carbon nanotubes at ambient temperature without the necessity of any reducing agent or solvent under mechanical shaking of a ball-mill. Notably, both the transition metal and solid support used for making these nanocomposites are inexpensive and highly abundant. The as-prepared Ni/MWCNTs nanoparticles will be used for cross coupling reactions under batch and continuous flow process conditions. In this regard, the use of microwave energy will be investigated as an alternative, convenient, green, and efficient heating source to develop the necessary conditions for the catalytic reactions. The proposed research will not only address fundamental aspects of carbon-carbon bond formation reactions but will also aid in exploring the continuous flow technology (e.g., FlowLab) for translation to large-scale production of useful organic molecules. This section of the project will bring together the best techniques to develop a technology with direct industrial applicability and will expedite broader application of continuous throughput manufacture technologies for the synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) through the major bond formation utilizing the cross-coupling catalysis in flow. This project is potentially beneficial to industrially relevant commercial applications and pharmaceutical industries, and thus expand the opportunities for future collaborations and partnerships with pharmaceutical companies.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.