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Chemicals are everywhere, from the organic building blocks that make up living organisms, to the synthetic chemicals we use to create advanced materials, such as electronics. More traditional methods for making these critical chemicals have relied on elevated temperatures, additional chemicals, and can often generate large amounts of waste, or be difficult to dispose of at the end of life. One of the core pillars to the RASEI mission is to design new ways to make these critical chemicals, ways that use less energy, generate less waste, and are easier to dispose of when no longer needed.

One of the most intriguing, and sustainable, ways to make chemicals that has emerged in the last decade is so-called photoredox catalysis – essentially using light to drive the reaction. In the same way that harvesting solar energy is far more renewable and cleaner than burning fossil fuels, photoredox methods for making reactions reduces the amount of additional chemicals required, reduces the amount of energy needed, and produces a more sustainable process. Coupling this new technology with a design ethos focused on the end of life of these chemicals, creates an approach that can address many of the concerns associated with synthetic chemicals.

RASEI Fellow Niels Damrauer is a founding member of a new National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Center for Chemical Innovation (CCI) titled The Center for Sustainable Photoredox Catalysis, or SUPRCAT. Niels is a member of the Executive Committee, and is a research area lead. Launched in August of 2023, the mission of SUPRCAT is to transform chemical synthesis by designing powerful, industrially-relevant processes using sustainable photoredox catalysts based on organic or earth abundant compounds and the energy from visible light.

Led out of Colorado State University by Prof. Garret Miyake, SUPRCAT brings together a multidisciplinary team of 12 research groups from CSU, ¾«Æ·SMÔÚÏßӰƬ, University of Wisconsin, University of Northern Colorado, Northeastern University, Metropolitan State University Denver and a startup company called New Iridium.

The NSF CCI program supports research Centers focused on major, long-term fundamental chemical research challenges. CCI’s work to address these challenges to produce transformative research that leads to innovation and attracts broad scientific and public interest. SUPRCAT are certainly taking on a grand challenge – we are excited to see their progress. Ìý