Assistant Professor of Chemistry Casey Wade has been selected to receive a Doctoral New Investigator grant from the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund for his proposal, “Metal-organic Framework Supported Pincer Complexes: Investigation of the Effects of Site Isolation and Secondary Environment.” The two year grant will support the development of improved heterogeneous catalysts for the production of petroleum-derived commodity and fine chemicals. Wade and coworkers plan to incorporate reactive transition metal catalyst sites into the well-defined 3-dimensional porous structure of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). While the porous MOF support can be used to tune and promote reactivity, the immobilization of catalytically active sites prevents undesired bimolecular decomposition pathways and facilitates catalyst separation, leading to greener and more sustainable catalytic processes.
Post written by Christine Thomas
