TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE CATALYSIS: DESIGN OF EARTH-ABUNDANT METAL COMPLEXES FOR WASTE VALORIZATION

The thesis describes the work done during three years of PhD regarding sustainable metodologies in homogeneous catalysis.
First chapter: selective oxidation of alcohols using iron(III) pyclen ligand complexes as catalyst and hydrogen peroxide as oxidant. Application and mechanistic insights. Structural and spectroscopical investigation of oxo-bridged iron complexes by XRD and Raman spectroscopy.
Second chapter: Cycloaddition of carbon dioxide and epoxides with pyclen metal complexes (zinc and iron) as catalysts. Developement and optimization of the reaction without the addition of external nucleophilic co-catalysts.
Third chapter: Cycloaddition of carbon dioxide to epoxides and aziridines with metallATE catalysts. Synthesis and exploiting of the activity of different tetrabutylammonium tetrahalogeno metallate catalysts. Deep mechanistic study of the reaction of styrene oxide and carbon dioxide catalyzed by [TBA][FeCl3Br] catalyst.
Fourth chapter: Promising chemical depolymerization of PET waste using different ammonium metallate catalysts.