Catalysts for natural products epoxidation

The present project consists of developing new catalysts for the epoxidation of natural products. Those catalysts will be titanium and molybdenum, two well known metals for this reaction, on well defined porous silica supports. Solid catalysts are favoured in industries because they are easy to produce at low cost and easy to separate from the reaction medium. Finally, they can be reused several times. The current project consists of developing an easy strategy to prepare titanium and molybdenum catalysts by direct wet impregnation of the support with the metal precursor. The amount of metal and its coordination on the support are crucial for the activity of the catalysts. To have a better understanding of the catalysts activity, electronic microscopy of the surface will be performed to determine the active phases for each supported metal. The epoxidation reaction in carried out in liquid phase. The yield of epoxides by these two catalysts will be at least 65%.

Faculty Supervisor:

Serge Kaliaguine

Student:

Luc Charbonneau

Partner:

/N SPRO

Discipline:

Engineering - chemical / biological

Sector:

University:

Université Laval

Program: