Sustainable catalysis using palladium and gold compounds recovered from waste

Catalysis using precious metals is a cornerstone of synthetic chemistry and is needed to make many of the products (pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, plastics etc.) on which we all rely, yet many of these metals, such as gold and palladium are extremely scarce. This project aims to valorise palladium and gold recovery products obtained from spent automotive catalytic converters and e-waste directly in catalysis. Palladium-mediated reactions in particular are among the most widely used transformations in organic synthetic chemistry. This project will thus connect existing low-energy, environmentally-friendly recovery processes with many of the most important catalytic transformations used in industry and academia.