Prof. Sonja Herres-Pawlis | RWTH Aachen | Bioinorganic Chemistry

Research topics and profile (related to bioeconomy)

Learning from Nature

Central theme of the working group is the activation of small molecules by transition metal N-donor complexes. Small molecules such as oxygen, lactide, styrene or NO shall be efficiently activated for resource-saving processes. Basis is biomimetic synthetic chemistry with application in catalytic processes. The mechanistic studies are supported by a plethora of spectroscopic and theoretical methods.

Research topics are:

• Biomimetic oxygen activation with copper complexes
• Atom transfer radical polymerisation
• Lactide polymerisation
• Electron and charge transfer studies for the entatic state
• Activation of small molecules

Contributions to BioSC

The chair possesses long-term expertise in the development, synthesis and characterisation of molecular catalyts for the transformation of biogenic raw material molecules as well as the polymerisation of annually renewable monomers.

• Chemical engineering and processing: Development of hybrid systems between chemical and biochemical catalysts for the large-scale application
• Microbial and molecular transformation: Metal complexes will be tailored for resource-saving catalytic processes based on renewable raw materials

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