Grant: Idea to Innovation

The fine chemical industry (pharmaceuticals, flavouring, fragrance, insecticides, etc) currently relies upon the use of specialized metal-based catalysts that are highly selective and versatile. However, these catalysts are homogeneous in nature, meaning that they are dissolved in the solution with the reacting substrates in a batch production process. While effective, this process has a number of disadvantages including high cost, toxicity, and high solvent and energy use. These disadvantages result, in part, by the need to separate the product from the catalyst. Product separation often destroys the homogeneous catalysts, so it can only be used once. Further, it is a resource-intensive process to completely remove the toxic heavy metals and other components of the catalyst from the product. More industrially attractive is the use of heterogeneous catalysts, in which the catalyst is physically attached to a solid support and then packed in a flow-through column through which the reactants are passed. The catalyst is easily recovered (it never actually leaves the column), less waste is generated, and the scarce and expensive metal and ligands that make up the catalysts can be reused. Unfortunately, effective ways to ""heterogenize"" homogeneous catalysts for use in flow reactors simply do not exist and the fine chemical industry remains unwillingly reliant on homogeneous catalysts. We will develop prototype flow cartridges containing homogeneous catalysts that have been attached to a solid, porous support using a unique methodology developed in our laboratories. During this project, the methodology will be modified to be highly adaptable, so many types of tunable catalysts can be attached to the stationary supports in flow cartridges. The prototypes will be evaluated for longevity, activity, product contamination, and selectivity in a commercial flow hydrogenation reactor. The prototypes will be licensed for use in the fine chemical industry.