Green Photochemistry: Synthesis of Commodity Chemicals with Sunlight

Title of Project

Green Photochemistry: Synthesis of Commodity Chemicals with Sunlight

Name of Advisor/s

A/Prof Michael Oelgemoeller

College

College of Science & Engineering

Summary of Project

This research area investigates the large-scale, solar synthesis of fragrances, flavours and pharmaceutical precursors. Additionally, many starting materials are available from biomass, in particular agricultural waste material. Our research results thus help to reduce our dependency on fossil fuel derived chemicals. We have recently realized the semi-technical syntheses of two commodity chemicals that are of particular interest for the agricultural industry. My group operates a modern CPC reactor (ca. 70 L) equipped with a number of accessories and two flatbed reactors (ca.10 L). The reactors can harvest diffuse and direct sunlight and are thus less dependent on weather conditions as concentrating systems, which makes them advantageous for operations in central Germany.We are also collaborating with the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) in Cologne on the usage of concentrated sunlight.

Key Words

solar chemistry, organic synthesis, green chemistry, biomass conversion

Would suit an applicant who

Interest in green, solar, organic, synthetic or photochemistry.