Next Generation Metal-organic Framework Catalysts

University Of California-San Diego, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

Catalysts are molecules that accelerate the rate of chemical reactions. Catalysts are needed to produce pharmaceuticals, plastics, and agrochemicals, among other important commodity products. The development of catalysts that can accelerate important chemical reactions cheaply and efficiently is an important, ongoing goal in the chemical sciences. One way to reduce cost is to enable the reusability of catalysts by making them so that they can be readily separated from the reaction mixture, recovered, and reused in a sustainable "green" chemical process. In this research program, Prof. Seth Cohen of the University of California, San Diego is seeking to prepare reusable catalysts using an advanced class of porous materials known as metal-organic frameworks. This proposal also includes teaching activities involving a Science Policy Internship Program (SPIP). The SPIP supports undergraduate STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) students at the University of California Center in Washington D.C. (UCDC). This program educates STEM students on the importance of science in public policy and is successfully recruiting both underrepresented and women students, across the University of California system, to help to create a generation of scientists that better appreciate their role in society and government. In this project funded by the Chemical Catalysis program of the Chemistry Division, Prof. Seth Cohen of the University of California, San Diego is developing catalysts for organic transformations using metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) as supports. These materials are being used to catalyze a wide range of organic reactions, where the advantages of a heterogeneous MOF support can be realized. MOF-based catalysts employing thiocatecholato metal sites, photoactive centers, and unique scorpionate metal sites are being studied. Reactions ranging from olefin cross-metathesis to C-H activation are being explored. The goal of this project is to obtain MOFs that act in a biomimetic fashion with a high degree of activity, selectivity, and stability. This proposal also includes teaching activities involving a Science Policy Internship Program (SPIP). The SPIP supports undergraduate STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) students at the University of California Center in Washington D.C. (UCDC). This program is educating STEM students on the importance of science in public policy and is successfully recruiting both underrepresented and women students, across the University of California system, to help to create a generation of scientists that better appreciate their role in society and government.