The Chemical Catalysis Program in the Chemistry Division at the National Science Foundation supports Professor Tobin Marks of Northwestern University to lead four closely interlinked research thrusts, integrating research and education, and focusing on fundamental and technologically-oriented aspects of new and unusual catalytic transformations, primarily involving abundant lanthanide, actinide, and related early transition metal elements. The goal is to use experimental bonding energetic information to understand unusual bonding modes, to understand known stoichiometric and catalytic transformations, and to predict new ones in this part of the Periodic Table. The project seeks to elucidate principals for inventing new, efficient, useful, atom-efficient, and environmentally acceptable "green" catalytic processes by investigating: 1) catalytic metal-heteroelement chemistry--hydroelementation and hydro-functionalization; 2) catalytic materials synthesis; 3) multinuclear catalysis; 4) electrophilic lanthanide catalysis in ionic liquids--hydroelementation and its microscopic reverse. In carrying out research, students engage in the synthesis and purification of new catalysts, characterizing their molecular structures and dynamics, implementing these catalysts in exploratory reactivity studies, molecular modeling and electronic structure computation, and rigorous elucidation of reaction kinetics and mechanism. Students also become familiar with polymerization reaction methodologies and with in-depth polymer microstructure, rheology, molecular weight, and thermal characterization.
Discovering, understanding, improving, and applying chemical transformations involving metal-carbon and metal-heteroatom containing molecules and fragments are of central importance to the U.S. chemical industry. These transformations include efficient, atom-economical catalytic processes for the production of fuels, plastics, pharmaceuticals, and other economically important chemicals on a huge scale. Furthermore, creating a broad chemical knowledge base and a technically skilled national cadre of researchers expert in this field is crucial to developing ever more selective, environmentally benign, and economically competitive technologies. There is also a national need for researchers trained in basic heavy element chemistry for the nuclear industry. This project focuses on organometallic/catalytic/materials chemistry with the goal being to effect, characterize, understand, and disseminate to the community, unusual and potentially useful new stoichiometric and catalytic reactivity principals, as well as new insights into bonding and bonding energetics. These research/education activities deliberately involve young scientists in all aspects of this knowledge creation. Participation in this challenging, multifaceted/multidisciplinary project, including interactions with industrial scientists, will prepare graduate, undergraduate, and postdoctoral students, having diverse backgrounds, for productive careers in industry, government laboratories, and academe.
