Focus

Nanotechnologies and nanomaterials

At the Pisa station, a new efficient route to the preparation of very
active and specific nanostructured catalysts has been developed and
optimized. The method consists in using metal vapour as reagent and allows
one to obtain catalysts that are remarkably more active and selective than
analogous commercial counterparts. These new catalysts can be already
obtained on a kilogram scale, which forecasts an industrial application
(Figure 1).
It has been also developed the preparation of asymmetric catalytic systems
for the synthesis of optically active organic compounds suitable for
making pharmaceutical, agrochemical and new materials. The strategy
consists in the heterogenization onto insoluble supports of
enantioselective catalysts with demonstrated high activity and
stereoselectivity in the homogeneous phase, attaining performances
analogous to those of the homogenous systems, and offering the advantage
of easy catalyst isolation and recycling.
In the laboratories of the Bari Station are produced conjugated
semiconductor polymers with polyphenylenethynyl structure for applications
as microelectronic devices and sensors.

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