Our group member James Railson successuflly defended his PhD dissertation entitled: “Developing the synthesis of novel TiO2 and Nb2O5 supports and their applications to the selective oxidation of alkanes”. Well done Dr. Railton!
The theme of this project was based on selective alkane oxidation with oxygen as the sole oxidant in a solvent-free system by means of shape selective catalysis. This was to provide a competitor for the application of ‘green’ synthesis of linear primary alcohols, which are exceptionally relevant compounds for the fine chemicals industry from surfactants and coatings to cosmetics.
Microporous metal oxides with an additional metal within the framework were developed for their potential to create confined metal active sites.
Conte Catalysis Group - University of Sheffield, UK 