Second Meeting of the
Catalysis Club of Chicago 2011-2012
Monday, November 14, 2011
 

Wildfire Restaurant
1250 E. Higgins Road
Schaumburg, IL 60173
(847) 995-0100

Cost $45 Professionals
$20 Students/Post Docs

Molecular Understanding of Heterogeneous Catalysts:
From the Supports to the Active Sites

Professor Christophe Copéret
Institute for Inorganic Chemistry
HCI H 229, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 10
CH-8093 Zurich  SWITZERLAND

Copéret Group, Zürich 

Abstract

Homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts have, each, specific advantages. While homogeneous catalysts are typically associated with efficient chemical transformations at low temperatures (high selectivity), heterogeneous ones are typically preferred in term of processes (easier regeneration and separation processes).

Here, we will show how it is possible to combine the advantages of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts by the controlled functionalization of the surfaces of oxide materials and by the characterization of surface species at the molecular level, thus allowing more predictive approaches. We will illustrate the power of this approach with the development of well-defined “single-sites”, whose performance and stability can be far above those displayed by homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts, e.g. alkene metathesis.

With our current level of understanding of surfaces, we will also discuss new directions in this field: understanding defect sites of surfaces and metal-support interactions at the molecular level, introducing diversity in oxide chemistry, controlling the growth of nanoparticles, the development of luminescent devices.