Heterogeneous Chemistry at Surfaces.
Selectivity, the ability to selectively produce a desired product in a catalytic reaction, is arguably the most important consideration in current and future industrial catalysis. A very important example is in the production of enantiomerically pure chiral molecules for use in the pharmaceutical industry. My research focuses on understanding the surface chemistry underpinning existing enantioselective heterogeneous catalysts and to develop strategies towards the design of new catalysts of this type. A major focus is the controlled construction in two dimensions of H-bonded or metal organic frameworks or covalent architectures that are functionalized strategically in order to interact enantioselectively with pro-chiral reagents. Another strategy for improving catalytic selectivity involves the use of bimetallic catalysts. In this area, my research focuses on understanding the enhancement in selectivity achieved on alloys compared with monometallic systems. Ion scattering methods coupled with STM are used to characterize the composition and structure of surfaces. In addition, we employ thermal desorption techniques and surface vibrational spectroscopy to characterize the adsorption properties of model catalyst surfaces.
Still under construction !!!!!!!!