Unconventional Phosphorus Ligands for Catalysis

Phosphorus(III) ligands are pre-eminent in important areas of homogeneous catalysis (e.g. hydroformylation, hydrocyanation, C-C and C-N coupling reactions, olefin oligomerisation and metathesis, asymmetric hydrogenation) and many of these processes have found industrial applications. The facility and finesse with which P-ligands can be modified is one of the reasons for their popularity. Conventional P-ligands contain P-C, P-O or P-N bonds but the aims of this project are to stretch the boundaries of P-ligand space by exploring the use in homogeneous catalysis of ligands containing P-F, P-B and P=C bonds. The synthesis of these compounds has been developed recently but their applications in catalysis remains largely unexplored. The catalytic processes that will be investigated include hydroformylation using fluorophosphite ligands and dehydrogenation using pincer-ligand complexes. Phospha-alkene ligands have been extensively studied for academic interest but not as ligands for catalysis despite the great interest in the applications of N analogues (imines). Bis(phospha-alkenes) will be screened for a variety of catalytic reactions including methoxy-carbonylation.

Catalysis is crucially important to the UK economy, with products and services reliant on catalytic processes amounting to 21% of GDP and 15% of all exports. The UK is scientifically strong and internationally recognised in the field, but the science base is fragmented and becoming increasingly specialised. The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Catalysis will overcome these problems by acting as beacon for excellent postgraduate training in Catalysis and Reaction Engineering with a programme that will develop an advanced knowledge base of traditional and emerging catalysis disciplines, understanding of industry and global contexts, and research and professional skills tailored to the needs of the catalysis researcher.

Although the chemical sector is an immensely successful and important part of the overall UK economy, this sector is not the only end-user of catalysis. Through its training and its research portfolio the Centre will, therefore, impact on a broad range of technologies, processes and markets. It will:
(a) provide UK industry with the underpinning science and the personnel from which to develop and commercially leverage innovative future technologies for the global marketplace;
(b) allow the UK to maintain its position as a world leader in the high-technology area of catalysis and reactor engineering;
(c) consolidate and establish the UK as the centre for catalysis expertise.

Likewise, society will benefit from the human and intellectual resource that the Centre will supply. The skills and technologies that will be developed within the Centre will be highly applicable to the fields of sustainable manufacture, efficient and clean energy generation, and the protection of the environment through the clean-up of air and water - allowing some of the biggest societal challenges to be addressed.