Design and applications of main group element frameworks

该提案有四个研究项目，有两个主要目标：帮助培训高素质的专业人员，他们将是执行拟议研究的研究生和本科生，并解决几个具有全球相关性的难题。第二个目标是它对一般配位化学和催化知识的贡献。前三个项目在性质上密切相关，目标是设计与该小组已经研究的衍生物有关的新型催化剂和催化剂组件，用于烷烃等非常稳定的碳氢化合物的衍生化，将氨用作无碳燃料，以及二氧化碳与氢的还原。使用氨作为无碳燃料是一个特别有吸引力也具有挑战性的目标，因为与目前正在研究的大多数其他替代燃料相比，氨是一种更琐碎、更便宜的化学物质。如果通过水-气变换反应从碳氢化合物或煤中生产出碳捕获和储存，它可能是一种出色的替代燃料。这是一项已经可用的技术。更有吸引力的是，未来它将利用太阳能产生的电解氢来生产氢气。该提案的目的不是将氨转化为替代燃料，而是克服目前阻碍氨作为燃料使用的障碍之一。这个障碍是氨与空气一起氧化成联氨。第四个项目旨在利用我们实验室最新的发现或有机磁体。其目标是证实这一发现，解释其机理，并改进磁性材料及其生产。磁性材料由于与金属材料相比具有更好的加工性而备受追捧，并将在信息技术和数据存储等领域得到应用。

The proposal features four research projects and has two primary aims: to aid the training of highly qualified professionals, who will be the graduate and undergraduate students performing the proposed research, and to tackle several difficult problems of global relevance. A secondary aim is its contribution to the knowledge on coordination chemistry and catalysis in general.The first three projects are closely related in character and target the design of novel catalysts and catalyst components related to derivatives that the group has already investigated, for reactions such as the derivatization of very stable hydrocarbons such as alkanes, the use of ammonia as a carbon-free fuel, and the reduction of carbon dioxide with hydrogen. The use of ammonia as a carbon-free fuel is a particularly appealing and also challenging target, because ammonia is a much more trivial and inexpensive chemical in comparison to most other alternative fuels currently under investigation. It could be an outstanding alternative fuel if produced from hydrocarbons or coal via the water-gas shift reaction, coupled with carbon capture and storage. This is an already available technology. Even more appealing would be its production from electrolytic hydrogen generated using solar power, in the future. The proposal does not aim to transform ammonia into an alternative fuel, but to overcome one of the hurdles that currently prevent the use of ammonia as a fuel. This hurdle is the oxidation of ammonia with air to hydrazine. The fourth project aims to capitalize on what appears to be the very recent discovery or organic magnets in our laboratory. Its target is to confirm the discovery, explain its mechanism and improve the magnetic materials and their production. Magnetic materials are highly sought after because they have better processability in comparison to their metal counterparts, and would find applications in, for example, the information technology and data storage.