Research & Expertise

Alkanes such as methane, the main constituent of natural gas, and ethane, a by-product of shale gas, have the potential of becoming major carbon resources in the near future but are currently underused, mainly due to the difficulties associated with converting alkanes selectively into useful products.  Current projects in this area are directed towards the selective oxidation of alkanes, which involve the development of light-driven oxygen insertion reactions for late-transition metals alkyl complexes.

1. Petersen, A. R., Taylor, R. A., Vicente-Hernandez, I., Mallender, P. R., Olley, H., White, A. J. P., & Britovsek, G. J. P. (2014). Oxygen Insertion into Metal Carbon Bonds: Formation of Methylperoxo Pd(II) and Pt(II) Complexes via Photogenerated Dinuclear Intermediates. JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, 136(40), 14089-14099. doi:10.1021/ja5055143 
2. Grau, M., Kyriacou, A., Martinez, F. C., de Wispelaere, I. M., White, A. J. P., & Britovsek, G. J. P. (2014). Unraveling the origins of catalyst degradation in non-heme iron-based alkane oxidation. DALTON TRANSACTIONS, 43(45), 17108-17119. doi:10.1039/c4dt02067g

Alkene conversions involve the development of new catalysts for the oligomerisation and polymerisation of ethylene and higher alkenes.  This has been a longstanding research interest and active research in polyethylene catalysis is ongoing in collaboration with INEOS.  Novel polyolefin materials are being designed and targeted in collaboration with Polymateria.  Highly branched oligomers/polymers for new application in the area of flow assurance are investigated in collaboration with PETRONAS.  Fundamental studies regarding the nature of active catalyst species and the reaction mechanism for ethylene oligomerisation are the subject of a Catalysis Hub funded project.  All research in this area involves catalyst and co-catalyst design and development, as well as polymer analysis.

1. Britovsek, G. J. P., Malinowski, R., McGuinness, D. S., Nobbs, J. D., Tomov, A. K., Wadsley, A. W., & Young, C. T. (2015). Ethylene Oligomerization beyond Schulz-Flory Distributions. ACS CATALYSIS, 5(11), 6922-6925. doi:10.1021/acscatal.5b02203    
2. Britovsek, G. J. P., McGuinness, D. S., Wierenga, T. S., & Young, C. T. (2015). Single- and Double-Coordination Mechanism in Ethylene Tri- and Tetramerization with Cr/PNP Catalysts. ACS CATALYSIS, 5(7), 4152-4166. doi:10.1021/acscatal.5b00989

Biomass and CO₂ Conversion. An important emerging carbon resource is biomass and research efforts on biomass conversion are directed towards the de-oxygenation of biomass through reduction, using either hydrogen or carbon monoxide.  Biomass de-oxygenation started as part of a collaboration with Coca Cola on the development of catalysts for the hydrogenation of lignin for polymer production and this is currently investigated as part of the Sustainable Chemical Feedstocks project funded by EPSRC.  The carbonylation and hydroformylation of biomass-derived feedstocks is being investigated in collaboration with ICES in Singapore (A*Star).  Ultimately the most sustainable carbon source, but also the most difficult to convert, is carbon dioxide.  Current research efforts focus on the electro-catalytic conversion of CO₂ for polymer production.

1. Coskun, T., Conifer, C. M., Stevenson, L. C., & Britovsek, G. J. P. (2013). Carbodeoxygenation of Biomass: The Carbonylation of Glycerol and Higher Polyols to Monocarboxylic Acids. CHEMISTRY-A EUROPEAN JOURNAL, 19(21), 6840-6844. doi:10.1002/chem.201203069