Developing sustainable catalytic methods

From commodity chemicals to fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals to agrochemicals, these are products that we cannot do without. The energy demands of the chemical sector are also enormous and given that most of this energy still comes from fossil fuels, the sustainability of this industry and in turn the chemicals on which we rely is a matter of grave concern.

Catalysts are without a doubt part of the solution to ensuring this sustainability as they can provide ways of producing these goods that are much less energy intensive. On top of this they also offer benefits such as improved efficiency in terms of product yield, leading to less waste. Developing catalytic methods that fit this criterion, as well as the additional need of being economically viable is however not trivial and presents many challenges.<br><br>This thesis explores two approaches to increasing the industrial appeal of two different types of catalytic systems.