Green synthesis of pharmaceutically important organic compounds Ref. No. SSTCRC062
Designing new efficient nanophotocatalysts and silicon-based catalysts towards C-H bond activation and green synthesis of pharmaceutically important organic compounds
Project Description:
Sustainability can be reached when the needs of the present can be satisfied without compromising those of the future. Nowadays, the idea of sustainability has been emerged as a dominant rule in organic chemistry, with look to the technology transfer of novel reactions from the lab to industrial processes. An ideal and sustainable transformation removes the use of scarce materials and materials which, through their production or disposal, represent an environmental hazard. Thus, design of “environmentally friendly” chemistry is directed with economic transformations. Therefore, performance of catalytic reactions, mild conditions, and limiting step-count and waste typically results in cost savings and cycle-time reduction. Recently, transformations are evaluated numerically by parameters such as atom economy, E factor, process mass intensity, etc.
Based on the above features, the importance of catalysts and photocatalysts is indisputable, and scientists have worked to improve their efficiency. Photocatalyst can sustainably convert inexhaustible solar energy into storable chemical energy. Photocatalysts are also important in environmental fields such as pollutant degradation, antibacterial and sterilization. In addition, the selected photocatalyst must be an environmentally friendly semiconductor. In this category, to solve issues such as high recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs and also for high performance from sunlight, a photocatalyst should have a small band gap. On the other hand, to obtain a high redox ability, a photocatalyst must have a high CB (conduction band) level and a low VB (valence band) level, which means that a large band gap is required. These two requirements are contradictory. As a result, a single photocatalyst cannot satisfy these two requirements and it is necessary to construct heterogeneous junctions. S-scheme and Z-scheme photocatalysts are two different types of photocatalytic systems used to convert solar energy into chemical energy.
Innovation:
Looking at the articles and researches carried out in relation to the application of photocatalysts, it is clear that most of the introduced catalysts have a high band gap and are in the range of ultraviolet light, and for this reason, the selected light source has certain limitations and disadvantages. While by examining some recent researches, by combining with a semiconductor photocatalyst, which has a narrower and more suitable band gap, by using a heterogeneous design, this group of photocatalysts can be significantly transferred to the limit of visible light, and even from LED light or even sunlight to carry out photocatalytic reactions, synthesis of organic compounds or removal of environmental pollutants, etc.
The innovation of this project can be summarized in the following paragraphs:
1- Investigating the increase in efficiency of new designed photocatalysts.
2- Catalytic and photocatalytic study of the prepared composites on various synthetic reactions in organic chemistry.
3- The use of new semiconductors with a narrower bandgap.
Objectives:
As mentioned in the previous sections, in recent years, semiconductor photocatalysts have received much attention due to the use of solar energy to eliminate organic impurities and purify water. Among different photocatalysts, those that are doped with other semiconductors or made in combination with other semiconductors have attracted more attention. And on the other hand, considering the increasing population growth and economic progress in the last decade, one of the problems of humanity is the production of clean and effective energy that is in line with supporting environmental concerns. In this context, the protection of natural water sources and the development of new technologies for water and wastewater treatment are considered to be one of the most important key environmental issues of the 22st century. There is a risk of replacing them. Photocatalysts are one of the useful and efficient technologies used in recent years for water purification, clean hydrogen fuel, CO2 reduction, bacterial disinfection and pollutant destruction.
The advantages of using photocatalyst compared to other common methods are:
1- It is a completely clean method and does not create any kind of pollution.
2- They have a low price and can be recycled and reused.
3- In most cases, photocatalysts are non-toxic.
4- They have high oxidation activity to carry out synthetic reactions in organic chemistry.
5- They have high chemical stability and do not be decomposed easily in the presence of light or water.
6- They can be activated with the help of ultraviolet light and in some cases with visible light.
7- They don't need to add another chemical substance and can perform the photocatalytic process alone in the presence of light.
8- They are generally compatible with the environment.
Proposed Research Methods:
In the part of this project where we will study photocatalysts, we will synthesize photocatalysts using conventional or progressed methods and then try to improve their catalytic and photocatalytic properties by coupling with a semiconductor with a suitable and narrow band gap. Finally, we examine the catalytic and photocatalytic efficiency of the resulting compounds in different synthetic reactions, C-H activation, or in the removal of environmental pollutants. In order to achieve the above goals, we will test different methods as follows and compare their final efficiency.
Data Collection Methods:
To carry out this project, library studies are used. In order to reach the latest scientific findings in the field of the studied subjects, the Internet and special chemistry sites such as ACS, Science-direct, Springer, RSC Publishing, etc. will be used. We will use various general methods used by chemists in this field such as GC-MS, FT-IR, HRSEM, HRTEM, NMR, …
Data Analysis Methods:
We will use various general methods used by chemists in this field such as GC-MS, FT-IR, HRSEM, HRTEM, NMR, …
Research Ethics：
We will not use animal or human studies.
Plan for the Cooperative Research Project :
