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MichiganState University

Science at the Edge

Engineering Seminar

*April 1^st , 2016*

11:30 a.m., Room1400 Biomedical and Physical Sciences Building

Refreshments served at 11:15 a.m.

*Tobin J. Marks*

Chemistry Department

Northwestern University

*/Strategies for Biofeedstock Conversions via Tandem Catalytic C-O 
Hydrogenolysis/*

**

Abstract

This lecture focuses on thermodynamics/mechanism-based strategies for 
converting abundant biofeedstocks into useful fuels and chemicals.New 
approaches to the hydrogenolysis of the ubiquitous biofeedstock C-O 
bonds include selective hydrogenolysis of cyclic and linear etheric C-O 
bonds by tandem catalytic systems consisting of recyclable metal 
triflates and supported hydrogenation catalysts, in either ionic liquid 
solvents or in the neat substrates. Kinetic and DFT computational 
studies show that the turnover-limiting step in these reactions is the 
retro-hydroalkoxylation, followed by rapid alkenol hydrogenation. The 
metal triflate catalytic activity scales approximately with the 
DFT-computed charge density on the metal ion.With the most active 
catalysts, ethereal substrates are rapidly converted, via the alkenol, 
to the corresponding saturated hydrocarbons.In similar tandem processes, 
esters and triglycerides are also rapidly and selectively converted, 
ultimately, to C3 hydrocarbons and diesters or biodiesel fuel.The 
kinetics and mechanism of these ester hydrogenolysis processes, as 
deduced by combined experimental results and DFT computation, are 
compared and contrasted with those of the corresponding ethers.

Bio

Tobin Marks is Vladimir N. Ipatieff Professor of Chemistry, Professor of 
Materials Science and Engineering, and Professor of Applied Physics at 
Northwestern University, and Distinguished Adjunct Professor at Texas 
A&M Qatar and World Class BK21 Professor at Korea University.He received 
a B.S. degree in Chemistry from the University of Maryland (1966) and 
Ph.D. from MIT (1971) in Inorganic Chemistry.His research interests 
include transition metal and f-element organometallic chemistry; 
catalysis; vibra­tional spectroscopy; synthetic facsimiles of 
metallo­protein active sites; carcinostatic metal complexes; solid state 
chemistry and low-dimensional molecular metals; nonlinear optical 
materials; polymer chemistry; tetrahydroborate coordination chemistry; 
macrocycle coordination chemistry; molecular 
electro-optics;metal-organic chemical vapor deposition; polymerization 
catalysis; printed flexible electronics; solar energy; and transparent 
conductors.

Marks has received American Chemical Society National Awards in 
Polymeric Materials, 1983; Organometallic Chemistry, 1989; Inorganic 
Chemistry, 1994; Chemistry of Materials, 2001; Distinguished Service in 
Inorganic Chemistry, 2008; Organic Chemistry (Cope Senior Scholar), 
2010; Catalysis (Somorjai), 2013.He received the 2000American Chemical 
Society Cotton Medal; 2001 American Chemical Society Willard Gibbs 
Medal; 2001 N. American Catalysis Society Burwell Award; 2001 American 
Chemical Society Linus Pauling Medal; 2002 American Institute of 
Chemists Gold Medal; 2003 German Chemical Society Karl Ziegler Prize; 
2004 Royal Society of Chemistry Frankland Medal, 2005American Chemical 
Society Bailar Medal; Member, U. S. National Academy of Sciences (1993); 
Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1993), Member, German 
National Academy of Sciences (2005); Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry 
(2005); US National Medal of Science (2007); Fellow, Chemical Research 
Society of India (2008); Fellow, Materials Research Society 
(2009):Honorary Fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences (2010). He received 
the 2008 Spanish Principe de Asturias Prize for Scientific Research; 
2009 N. American Catalysis Society Pines Award; 2009 Taylor Materials 
Research Award, Penn. State U.; 2009 Von Hippel Award, Materials 
Research Society; 2010American Chemical Society Nichols Medal; 2010 
Distinguished Affiliated Professor Award and Wilhelm Manchot Prize, 
Technical U. of Munich; 2010 American Chemical Society Mosher Award; 
2011 Schulich Prize, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology; 2011 
Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences; 2012 American Chemical Society 
Richards Medal; the 2012 National Academy of Sciences Award in the 
Chemical Sciences; member, National Academy of Engineering, 2012; 
Distinguished Alumni Award and Election, Circle of Discovery, University 
of Maryland, 2012; Alan G. MacDiarmid Medal, University of Pennsylvania, 
2013; Wilkinson Medal, Royal Society of Chemistry UK, 2014; Luigi 
Sacconi Medal, Italian Chemical Society, 2015.

He received Doctor of Science degrees /honoris causa/, from the Hong 
Kong University of Science and Technology in 2011, the University of 
South Carolina in 2011, and the Ohio State University in 2012.

Peer-reviewed publications: 1195; h-index = 136 (on 71,500 citations); 
Issued US Patents: 233.

For further information please contact Prof. Richard Lunt, Department of 
Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at [log in to unmask]

Persons with disabilities have the right to request and receive 
reasonable accommodation. Please call the Department of Chemical 
Engineering and Materials Science at 355-5135 at least one day prior to 
the seminar; requests received after this date will be met when possible.