Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

"Rapid catalyst discovery: A short cut to greener chemistry" Chemists have an important role to play in safeguarding the future of our planet by 'greening' the way in which everyday substances are made. One approach to this is to reduce the energy needed and the waste produced in chemical manufacture by using catalysts. The aims of this research are to discover new catalysts and new high-throughput methods. High-throughput synthesis and screening allows the chemist to quickly vary the metal and molecule used to make up the catalyst and also see whether the catalyst is better or worse than previous catalysts at an early stage in the research. So a new catalyst, e.g. for turning a waste product such as carbon dioxide into a useful material, can hopefully be discovered more rapidly. In discovering new catalysts, chemists can meet society's continuing desire for a high quality of life whilst enabling a sustainable future via new lower energy processes and alternative feedstocks.  This research is of importance in exploiting Canada's finite petrochemical (oil and gas) resources in an energy efficient and controlled way. In the long term, the results of this work will impact on the production of fine chemicals including the materials, pharmaceuticals and commodities that we have grown to rely on. A range of reactions will be investigated including the catalytic formation of C-N and other C-X bonds. Some of the catalysts discovered will allow the development of new pharmaceuticals (chiral drugs) and new materials (via stereoselective polymerizations). We will also study controlled and predictable C-H bond activation reactions. These reactions continue to be a primary goal of organometallic chemistry research worldwide. They have the potential to revolutionize synthetic procedures including the transformation of low cost hydrocarbons, such as methane, into higher molecular weight hydrocarbons, alcohols, organic acids and amines.