The Daily Bulletin Archive

Please join the Chemistry and Physics departments for the seminar "Heterogeneous Oxidation Catalysis: A Sustainable Route for Fine Chemical Production," presented by Sourav Biswas, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Delaware's Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation, on Thursday, March 12, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Science and Mathematics Complex 176.

Selective oxidation of organic molecules by molecular oxygen is a subject of considerable importance in the context of the environmentally benign synthesis of commodity chemicals. Heterogeneous materials have been established as fundamental pillars supporting the advances in "green chemistry," from the perspective of cost and waste minimization. However, dependability on precious metals, promoters/additives, and harsh reaction conditions hinder the widespread use of heterogeneous catalysts over traditional pathways for chemical synthesis. This talk will introduce some of the fundamental and practical challenges facing this field, together with a presentation of efforts we have made to address these challenges, emphasizing the development of a unique type of mesoporous transition metal oxide and its application in a series of selective oxidation reactions. This will be followed by understanding the mechanistic aspects, especially the role of the surface oxygen species, oxygen vacancies, and related oxygen transportation by the metal oxides. At the end, I will highlight my future research program spanning interrelated yet complementary sub-areas of diverse heterogeneous catalytic systems. The particular focus will be on conceptual designing of oxidation catalysts inspired from electrocatalysts and C-C coupling reactions yielding to biological and pharmaceutical relevant compounds.