
Unit D
Catalysis with electronically activated molecules
The central objective is to drive or control challenging chemical processes via the electronic excitation of molecules that are otherwise unfavorable under ambient reaction conditions. Electronic excitation will be achieved by light absorption or cathodic electron injection for selective transformations of substrates into value-added chemicals.
There, we will develop photo(electro)catalytic reactions in non-aqueous environments inspired by Unit B, to enable the reduction of challenging element-organic substrates containing stable E=O (e.g., P=O) and E-O bonds (e.g., Si-O). In this way, we aim to re-activate functional compounds which are key building blocks for various chemical transformations.
The efforts to identify similarities between coupling mechanisms and those of light-driven and light-controlled biocatalytic systems interconnect D with Units B and E.
Team
Antonietti, Markus
Colloid and polymer chemistry, synthesis of solid catalysts
Dau, Holger
X-ray spectroscopy
Driess, Matthias
Molecular synthesis, chemical catalysis, main group chemistry
Matera, Sebastian
Computational chemistry, multiscale modeling
Pieber, Bartolomäus
Organic reaction engineering, microfluidic photoreactors

Roldan, Beatriz
Surface science, electrochemistry
Saalfrank, Peter
Theoretical chemistry, quantum chemistry, dynamics
Schlögl, Robert
Catalyst characterization by operando-spectroscopy and EM
Schomäcker, Reinhard
Photocatalyst performance, kinetic studies, photoreactor design
Seeberger, Peter
Microfluidic photoreactors
Strasser, Peter
Electrochemistry
Thomas, Arne
Synthesis of photo(electro)catalysts
van de Krol, Roel
Transient spectroscopy, photoelectrodes
Weidinger, Inez
Raman spectroscopy