Understanding selective oxidations.
Functionalizing organic molecules is an important value-creating step throughout the entire chemical value-chain. Oxyfunctionalization of e.g. C-H or C=C bonds is one of the most important functionalization technologies used industrially. The major challenge in this field is the prevention of side reactions and/or the consecutive over-oxidation of the desired products. Despite its importance, a fundamental understanding of the intrinsic chemistry, and the subsequent design of a tailored engineering environment, is often missing. Industrial oxidation processes are indeed to a large extent based on empirical know-how. In this mini-review, we summarize some of our previous work to help to bridge this knowledge gap and elaborate on our ongoing research.
ETH Zürich, Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, HCI E123, CH-8093 Zürich.
Ulrich
U
Neuenschwander
Natascia
N
Turrà
Christof
C
Aellig
Philipp
P
Mania
Ive
I
Hermans