Chemical Engineering and Catalysis

Organometallics and Catalysis

Organometallic chemistry explores the chemistry of the often be wildering variety of compounds featuring metal-carbon bonds. A field that has underpinned the development of new synthetic methods and materials, it is also central to our understanding of catalysis. Organometallic compounds are widely used both stoichiometrically in research and industrial chemical reactions. The novel metal free catalysts are called organocatalysts, for the synthesis of industrially relevant products with CO2 as a C1-building block. Combining those catalysts with metal-catalyzed or enzyme-catalyzed procedures in (sequential) one pot reactions leads to innovative and sustainable catalytic systems with high selectivity and energy efficiency respectively. These alternative methods, taking steps in the upstream and downstream phases, are targeted at changing and extending the raw material base, utilizing CO2.