Fine Chemical Synthesis with Joint Research between Homo- and Heterogeneous Catalysis

Abstract: 

It is a promising strategy to develop a catalyst that combines the advantages of both homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis to achieve outstanding catalytic performance with extreme stability, easy recyclability, high activity, and remarkable selectivity. The successes of such catalytic systems are crucial and essential to realizing cost-effective and sustainable chemical reactions both in industrial and academic research. In recent years, our team has focused on the development of the design of appropriate catalysts that bridge heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis via different concepts, and some achievements have been obtained. One strategy is to fabricate molecular imprinting catalysts (MICs) by sequential adsorption of the imprinting molecule and imprinting ligand over the surface of metal nanoparticles, which simultaneously enhance both catalytic activity and selectivity for redox reactions. The other strategy is to synthesize porous monophosphine polymers containing in-situ encapsulated metal catalysts for regioselective hydroformylation and hydroaminomethylation of alkenes.

Bio: 

Feng Shi is now the Deputy Director of the Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics (LICP), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Prof. Shi completed his Ph.D. in Catalysis at LICP in 2004. After three years of postdoctoral research in LIKAT (Leibniz Institute for Catalysis) in Germany, he joined the faculty of LICP in 2008 in the Hundred Talents Program of CAS. Since 2016, Feng Shi has been the Deputy Director of the State Key Laboratory for Oxo Synthesis and Selective Oxidation. Now he is also the Director of the State Key Laboratory for Low Carbon Catalysis and Carbon Dioxide Utilization. His research focuses on the integration of homogeneous- and heterogeneous catalysis and Low Carbon Catalysis. He has published more than 150 papers and been cited over 9000 times.

Heterogeneous catalysts for carbonyl synthesis

Abstract:

Surface engineering is considered an effective strategy to regulate the surface charge distribution and optimize the active sites. Surface defects or functionalities are ubiquitous in metal oxides which can modify the physical and chemical properties of the oxide materials significantly, affecting the catalytic performance dramatically in various reactions. Meanwhile, the subtle variation in the active site architecture can affect catalytic performance significantly and even change the reaction pathway, thereby different elementary steps for a multistep reaction might be selectively determined by one of multiple metal sites. Thus, it is highly interesting to study the relationship between the catalytic reactivity with multiple metal sites. Herein, we will present our recent achievements on the formation of carbonyl molecules by heterogeneous catalysts, including 1) aldehyde synthesis by the acceptorless dehydrogenation of alcohols over FeCo double atom catalysts; 2) Oxygen defects induced Fe₂O₃ catalyzed carbonylation reaction of aryl halides and amines/alcohols with CO; 3) Amine formylation with CO₂ enhanced by the interfacial O atoms.

Bio:

Xinjiang Cui obtained his PhD supervised by Prof. Youquan Deng and Prof. Feng Shi at Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics (LICP), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 2013. After that, he worked for one and a half years in LICP as an assistant researcher. From 2014 to 2017, he worked at the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis as a post-doctor with Prof. Matthias Beller. Then, he moved to École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) to continue his post-doctoral research with Prof. Paul J. Dyson from 2018 to 2019. In 2020, he returned to LICP and started his academic career independently as a full professor. Xinjiang Cui is now focusing on carbonyl synthesis by heterogeneous catalysis and CO2 transformations. He has published more than 80 papers and been cited over 5000 times.