A new iron nanoparticle catalyst developed by researchers promises to drastically improve the efficiency of hydrogenation.
SAITAMA, JAPAN: Researchers have developed a new iron nanoparticle catalyst that will drastically improve the efficiency of hydrogenation, a key chemical process used in a wide array of industrial applications. The new catalyst is cleaner, safer and cheaper than traditional rare metal-based catalysts such as palladium or platinum. The new, more environmentally friendly technique marks a breakthrough for the emerging field of green chemistry.
Hydrogenation, the reaction of molecular hydrogen with another compound or element, is one of the world’s most highly studied chemical reactions, with industrial applications ranging from petrochemistry, to food production, to pharmaceuticals.
Most rare metal catalysts are highly efficient, but are expensive and limited in supply, posing environmental and economic challenges. To get around these problems, researchers at McGill University, the RIKEN Centre for Sustainable Resource Science and the Institute for Molecular Science developed their new technique using iron, a much less expensive and far more abundant element. Iron has been ruled out in the past due to the fact that it rusts in the presence of oxygen and water, negating its catalytic effect.
The new technique, produces iron nanoparticles directly inside a polymer matrix, which protects the iron surface from rusting while allowing the reactants to reach it and react. The resulting system of polymer-stabilized iron nanoparticles in water is the first of its kind: a safe, cheap and environmentally friendly catalyst system for hydrogenation reactions.
“Our aim is to develop iron-based catalysts not only for hydrogenation but also a variety of organic transformations that can be used in future industrial applications. If rare metal-based catalysts can be replaced by iron-based ones, then we can overcome our costly dependency on rare metals,” explained Dr Yoichi M A Yamada, Researcher, RIKEN.
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