The Department of Chemistry and the Biorefining Research Institute (BRI) tenure-track Research Chair in Chemocatalytic Biomass

Catalytic systems for biomass conversion using homogeneous catalysis

Abstract. New and sustainable energy vectors are required due to the environmental issues associated with the continued use of fossil fuels. Renewable resources and bio-based feedstocks may present a sustainable alternative to petrochemical sources to satisfy modern society’s ever-increasing demand for energy and chemicals. Homogeneous catalysis has been explored the effective approaches to utilizing renewable sources, playing an important role, with new reactions, processes, and concepts that leverage both traditional and emerging chemo- and biocatalytic technologies. My research projects combine fundamental investigations of coordination chemistry, kinetics and mechanism, in-situ investigation of catalytic intermediates, and the development of new patterns of catalytic reactivity for the selective synthesis of chemical intermediates, monomers, building block chemicals and clean energy derived from biomass feedstocks.