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

在目前的提案中，我们希望发起一项多学科研究，通过两个具有良好记录的研究团队（一个在催化剂发现方面，另一个在微反应技术方面）之间的合作，通过化学中间体的催化氧化来开发绿色制造的新系统。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。这种现行的工艺是不绿色的，产生大量的浪费，是环境污染的来源。我们计划解决这方面的问题，并设计新的，绿色的，无溶剂的，催化氧化工艺，将利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。通过结合催化化学和微反应工程，我们的目标是识别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工艺提供新的机会。这将使用金和金合金催化剂与分子氧作为化学计量氧化剂一起进行。微工程反应器为催化剂的开发提供了一个极好的工具，特别是对于快速放热催化反应。这是由于小距离存在的质量和热传递和改进的热管理。这些优势已经在EPSRC之前的一个著名的银上甲醛合成项目中得到了证明。利用开发的专业知识，并启动协同化学/化学工程合作，我们现在希望开始寻求新的高活性和选择性催化剂，用于利用分子氧进行具有挑战性的氧化反应。这不仅将通过利用微工程反应堆增强的质量和传热特性来实现，而且还将利用它们新近展示的原位研究能力来实现。这样，催化剂的开发将以独特的工具和现代技术为指导，以及对反应机理的更深入的理解。

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.