Introduction The Royal Society of Chemistry Faraday Discussions are a series of meetings focusing on rapidly developing areas of physical chemistry. Contrary to typical conferences, Faraday Discussions rely on the active participation of speakers and audience alike. Topics for each session are based on new research papers submitted specifically for the meeting. Audience participation is...
Introduction The 7th International Gold Conference takes place every three years and in 2015 was hosted by the Cardiff Catalysis Institute at Cardiff City Hall, UK, from 26th to 29th July. Scientists from all over the world gathered to discuss the latest advances in gold chemistry. Over three days, the conference covered different aspects from homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis to...
The remarkable benefits associated with the attraction of polyethylene glycol (PEG)-containing nanomicelles to metal nanoparticles in water allows for varying types of important catalysis to be done under very mild and green conditions.
Introduction This new volume of Springer's famous series Topics in Organometallic Chemistry, Volume 42, entitled “Organometallics as Catalysts in the Fine Chemical Industry”, presents the state-of-the-art in the industrial use of organometallic or coordination complexes as catalysts for the production of fine chemicals. A range of reactions is covered through an overview of chapters and...
Introduction A commemorative symposium was held at the University of Durham, UK, on 3rd–4th April 2013 to celebrate the career of Professor Dennis Albert Dowden (1914–2012). The meeting was organised by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Applied Catalysis Group (ACG) and the RSC Surface Reactivity and Catalysis Group (SURCAT) and sponsored by Johnson Matthey. The meeting was attended by...
Here another researcher whose work has benefited from the support of Johnson Matthey and Alfa Aesar, A Johnson Matthey Company, is profiled. Jean-Cyrille Hierso is a Full Professor and Member of the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF) at the University of Burgundy in Dijon, France. He is interested in metal and ligand chemistry, catalysis and nanomaterials. About the Researcher ...
Hexamethylenetetramine (hmta) was chosen as a model ligand. Each of the four nitrogen atoms has a pair of unshared electrons and behaves like an amine base, undergoing protonation and N-alkylation and being able to form coordination compounds with many inorganic elements. The ligand can be used as an outer coordination sphere modulator of the inner coordination sphere and as a crosslinking agent in dinuclear and multinuclear coordination compounds. It can also be used as a model for bioactive molecules to form a great number of complexes with different inorganic salts containing other molecules. Studies of hmta coordination compounds with different metal salts have therefore attracted much attention. The present review summarises the synthesis, preparation, structure analysis and applications of coordination compounds of hmta with different metal salts.
Fast pyrolysis for liquids has been developed in recent decades as a fast and flexible method to provide high yields of liquid products. An overview of this promising field is given, with a comprehensive introduction as well as a practical guide to those thinking of applying bio-oils or fast pyrolysis liquids in various applications. It updates the literature with recent developments that have occurred since the reviews cited herein. Part I gave an introduction to the background, science, feedstocks, technology and products available for fast pyrolysis (1). Part II details some of the promising applications as well as pre-treatment and bio-oil upgrading options. The applications include use of bio-oil as an energy carrier, precursor to second generation biofuels, as a biorefinery concept and upgrading to fuels and chemicals.
Introduction “Green Catalysts for Energy Transformation and Emission Control” is book 1184 in the ACS Symposium Series, which has been published since 1974 and is peer-reviewed, consisting of original research papers and review articles. The purpose of the series is to publish comprehensive books based on current scientific research presented at ACS sponsored symposia. The content of this...
This massive volume with a most appropriate title will lead the user to say: ‘I read, I understand modern trends, I will apply’. After perusing it, the reader is encouraged to give a quiz to their students or colleagues: what is the largest scale Heck reaction to date? Why is a reaction in water not a fully ‘green’ process? What are the problems of scale up flow reactions? How much...
John M. Woodley is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). Originally from the UK, his research focuses on the relatively new field of bioreaction engineering, using chemical engineering to design and implement the next generation of chemical processes with enzymatic and microbial catalysts....
Mankind’s ability to harness the power of biocatalysis dates back many thousands of years as evidenced by records that described the production of beer by the Sumerians. Over the next few thousand years many other uses of biocatalysis were discovered, mainly for the production of food and drinks such as cheese and wine. Yet it took until the 20th century for mankind to utilise biocatalytic...
Introduction The book describes an overview of the various arylation methods under metal-catalysed conditions. There are nine chapters covering about 500 pages which are: ‘Cross-Coupling Arylations: Precedents and Rapid Historical Review of the Field’ ‘Amine, Phenol, Alcohol, and Thiol Arylation’ ‘Decarboxylative Coupling Techniques’ ‘C–H Bond Activation for Arylations’ ‘Conjugate...
This review constitutes a detailed but non-exhaustive examination of the directed ortho metallation (DoM)–cross-coupling fusion in its many flavours. Special attention is paid to the application of the concept of the linked reactions and the synthetic utility that it endows, particularly in the case of one-pot reactions that can greatly increase the ease and efficiency of the process. Personal experience of particular issues that can arise from these reactions and examples of their solutions are given, as well as illustrations of the rapid access to complex molecules that the technique encourages.
Introduction Held under the auspices of European Federation of Catalysis Societies (EFCATS) the 10th EuropaCat Congress was held in Glasgow, UK, from 28th August to 2nd September, 2011 (1). EuropaCat is a highly regarded biennial congress which brings together researchers from across Europe and further afield for scientific dissemination in catalysis. EuropaCat X was a truly international...
The improvement of catalytic processes is strongly related to the better performance of catalysts (higher conversion, selectivity, yield and stability). Additionally, the desired catalysts should meet the requirements of being low cost as well as environmentally and user-friendly. All these requirements can only be met by catalyst development and optimisation following new approaches in design and synthesis. This article discusses three major approaches in the design and development of catalysts: (a) high-throughput synthesis; (b) reaction kinetic studies; (c) in situ and operando spectroscopy for studying catalysts under process conditions. In contrast to approaches based on high-throughput synthesis and reaction kinetic studies, an emerging approach of studying catalysts under process conditions using in situ and operando spectroscopy and transferring the gained knowledge to design of new catalysts or the optimisation of existing catalysts is not yet widely employed in the chemical industry. In this article, examples of using in situ or operando spectroscopy for studying the surface and bulk of catalysts under process conditions are discussed, with an overview of applying in situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), in situ infrared (IR) spectroscopy and in situ near-ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (NAP-XPS) for monitoring the bulk and surface composition of PdZn/ZnO and Pd2Ga/Ga2O3 methanol steam reforming catalysts.
The understanding of location and accessibility of zeolite acid sites is a key issue in heterogeneous catalysis. This paper provides a brief overview of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) characterisation of acidity in zeolites based on the application of test molecules with a diverse range of basicity and kinetic diameters. Many zeolites,...
In this article, we will look at palladium impurity removal from active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) process streams using metal scavengers and the drivers for the implementation of such processes. The article will review some of the available scavengers and detail how Johnson Matthey approaches the trial work and the methods used for screening, optimisation and scale-up of the scavenger process. It will outline the steps taken to ensure smooth transfer of the metal impurity removal process from lab to plant. This will include Johnson Matthey data from batch isotherm, kinetic and fixed bed trials and the application of mathematical models for performance characterisation and scale-up, which all feed into the final system design. Performance data for a number of the Johnson Matthey range of scavengers will be referenced both in batch and cartridge systems and the benefits of using the scavengers in a cartridge system will be presented.
There is a growing move away from so called first generation biorenewables (which use food crops as the feedstock) towards second generation biorenewables which use non-food sources of biomass. Biorenewable products have the potential to support growing resource needs while addressing concerns regarding climate change and energy security. Examples of second generation biorenewable...
Introduction “Advances in Biofuel Production: Algae and Aquatic Plants” is a compilation of papers that have previously been published elsewhere, presented as 12 chapters. These have been edited by Barnabas Gikonyo, whose research interests range from the application of biocompatible polymeric materials for the repair of spinal cord injuries to the development of non-food biofuels. The...
