An integrated, multi-dimensional in-operando Reaction Monitoring Facility for Homogeneous Catalysis Research

我们的社会高度依赖催化科学，而催化科学是全球主要挑战的核心，如能源的高效转化、温室气体的缓解、销毁大气和水中的污染物以及处理生物质，这些都本质上依赖于催化。此外，催化是化学工业的一项关键技术；据估计，催化科学贡献了90%的化学制造过程。化学工业是英国制造业产出的主要组成部分，也是英国整体经济的重要组成部分，每年产生的产值超过500亿GB。英国国家统计局年度商业调查(2012)估计，化学和制药制造业每年价值190亿GB。并预测，到2030年，英国化学工业将使化学使用行业对英国经济的总附加值贡献增加50%，从1950亿GB增加到3000亿GB。众所周知，由于催化活性物种的低浓度和瞬变性质，了解催化剂的工作原理是出了名的困难。在这个项目中，将开发基于最先进的流动核磁共振方法的新设备，使学术研究和工业过程中的新催化剂能够快速开发。至关重要的是，我们建议的设备将允许在广泛的实际反应条件(例如，浓度、温度和压力)下对催化反应进行高灵敏度和实时监控。这将提供一个独特的设施来研究催化剂的范围、生产率、选择性和失活，这反过来将提供对机理的洞察，并使我们能够开发新的催化系统。巴斯大学和整个英国的学术和工业科学家和工程师将利用这些设备来了解和开发各种具有学术和工业意义的过程的催化剂。受益于这些设备的领域将包括：可再生聚合物的催化剂、生物质利用和定价的催化剂、可持续能源的催化剂以及药品和精细化学品的可持续合成催化剂。该设备将带来的进步将被利用，特别是在制药和精细化工行业，通过与英国各种催化剂公司和化学品生产商的合作。

Our society is highly dependent on catalytic science which is central to major global challenges such as efficient conversion of energy, mitigation of greenhouse gases, destroying pollutants in the atmosphere and in water, and processing biomass which all rely intrinsically on catalysis. In addition, catalysis is a key technology for the chemical industry; it is estimated that catalytic science contributes to 90% of chemical manufacturing processes. Chemistry-using industries are is a major component of the UK's manufacturing output and vital part of the overall UK economy, generating in excess of £50 billion per annum. The ONS Annual Business Survey (2012) estimated chemical and pharma manufacturing to be worth £19 billion p.a. and predicted that by 2030, the UK chemical industry will have enabled the chemistry-using industries to increase their Gross Value Added contribution to the UK economy by 50%, from £195 billion to £300 billion. Understanding how catalyst work is notoriously difficult because of the low concentrations and transient nature of catalytically active species. In this project will develop new equipment based on state-of-the-art flow NMR methods that will enable the rapid development of new catalysts for academic research and industrial processes. Crucially the equipment we propose will allow high sensitivity and real-time monitoring of catalytic reactions under a wide range of realistic reaction conditions (e.g., concentrations, temperatures and pressures). This will provide a unique facility to study the scope, productivity, selectivity and deactivation of catalysts, which in turn will provide insight into mechanisms and allow us to develop new catalytic systems.The equipment will be utilized by academic and industrial scientists and engineers at the University of Bath and throughout the UK to understand and develop catalysts for a wide range of processes of academic and industrial relevance. Areas that will benefit from the equipment will include; catalysts for renewable polymers, catalysts for utilisation and valorisation of biomass, catalysts for sustainable energy, and catalysts for sustainable synthesis of pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals. The progress that will be enabled by the equipment will be exploited, particularly within the pharma and fine chemicals sectors, through collaboration with a wide variety of UK catalyst companies and chemical producers.