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.
