REVCAT · (R) - Evolutionary Catalysis
FP6 — Marie Curie Actions (Human Resources and Mobility)
- Duration
- 2006-10-01 → 2010-09-30
- EU contribution
- €2,841,882
- Participants
- 10
- Scheme
- RTN
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Results in brief
Final Activity Report Summary - REVCAT (Evolutionary Catalysis)
Catalysis, a means to speed-up chemical reactions, is of utmost importance for society and industry as it provides tools to make molecules in an economical manner with the least amount of by-product formation. Catalysis therefore plays a central role in creating a sustainable society. In the REVCAT project the consortium has explored new strategies to find catalysts for industrially relevant processes that are based on the principles of evolution. Whereas in nature the fittest wins in the struggle for life, the consortium also developed strategies based on selection of the least stable intermediates, survival of the weakest if you like, enabling the identification of the fastest catalyst from a mixture of species. Catalyst finding and optimisation strategies have been applied that go through loops of selection and adaption, in analogy to evolutionary processes. By doing so various new catalysts were uncovered, including cheap iron based catalysts for hydrogenation, organocatalysts for asymmetric C-C bond formation, rhodium catalysts for asymmetric hydrogenation and hydroformylation. In addition, in analogy to natural systems, catalyst systems have been developed in which two catalysts work in harmony to enforce selective transformations.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Catalysis is at the heart of chemical sciences because it is the art of selectively making and breaking chemical bonds. It is for this reason that it has been a major topic in various fundamental research programs in the past, and also it has served as an important innovative technology in industry. The research efforts in the past decades generally resulted in incremental improvements, with occasional new reactions found by serendipity. It is clear that radical new approaches are required to enforce a breakthrough in this area. We would like to use Nature's most powerful concept, evolution, as a source of inspiration to develop (r)evolutionary catalysts.The implementation of the new concepts in industry will be accelerated through the involvement of DSM in this network, one of the leaders in the use of homogeneous catalysis and biocatalysis in fine chemicals production. It is important to train the young researchers in the many aspects of catalysis. This network will provide the ideal environment for this training. The ESR/ER will learn the importance of catalysis in the industrial context and how to implement catalysis in synthetic pathways. They will be trained in high throughput experimentation and the use of sophisticated robots in synthesis, catalysis and analysis.They will be taught the many different types of catalysis, such as homogeneous catalysis, biocatalysis and organocatalysis, and the value of molecular calculations supporting experimental work. It is clear that researchers trained in the above manner and exposed to the new research concepts will tremendously increase their chance of employment in the European chemical or pharmaceutical industry. In addition, they will help these industries to increase their competitiveness, which will allow them to compete with the low-wage Asian countries.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM · AMSTERDAMCoordinatorNetherlands
- DSM RESEARCH BV · GELEENNetherlands
- INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTRY, SLOVAK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES · BRATISLAVACity levelSlovakia
- INSTITUTE OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - POLISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES · WARSZAWAPoland
- KARL-FRANZENS-UNIVERSITAET GRAZ · GRAZAustria
- RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT GRONINGEN · GRONINGENNetherlands
- UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO · MILANOItaly
- UNIVERSITAET BASEL · BASELSwitzerland
- UNIVERSITAET ZU KOELN · KOELNGermany
- University of Cambridge · CambridgeUnited Kingdom
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union