Chemistry and Pharmacy
Creation of the"Institute for Sustainable Chemistry and Catalysis with Boron" (ICB), headed by Prof Dr Holger Braunschweig
The ICB brings together the expertise of an interdisciplinary group of researchers from the Institutes of Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physical and Theoretical Chemistry of the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy and the Chair of Experimental Physics VI of the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy.The ICB's research programme includes investigations into the metal-free activation of small molecules, in particular nitrogen (see, for example, the following publications: Multiple complexation of CO and related ligands to a main-group element. Nature 2015, 522, 327-330; Nitrogen fixation and reduction at boron.Science 2018, 359, 896-900; The reductive coupling of dinitrogen. Science 2019, 363, 1329-1332). Due to their special electronic properties, low-valent boron compounds such as diborines, diborenes and especially borylenes take over the role of the metal (so-called "borametallomimetics")."Borametallomimetics", see also Metallomimetic Chemistry of Boron. Chem. Rev. 2019, 119, 8231-8261.). The new building to house the ICB, which was jointly financed by the Federal Government of Germany and the Free State of Bavaria, was started in 2019.
Prof. Dr Anke Krüger's projects include 1) the reduction of CO2 with sunlight and in green media (EU project DIACAT www.diacat.eu and through photocatalysis (BMBF project CarbonCat, https://www.carboncat-project.de/) and 2) the production of new types of sodium batteries as energy storage devices in which no critical elements (Li, Co) are used (project of the Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection).
The working group of Jun-Prof. Ann-Christin Pöppler has contributed to a project of the group of Dr Irina Delidovich (RWTH Aachen University) on the topic of "Energy-efficient separation processes for bio-refinery". Based on the initial results published in Green Chemistry at the beginning of 2020(https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2020/GC/C9GC03151K#!divAbstract), the two young scientists are currently developing a joint research proposal.
