The Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis (LMC) of the Institute of Chemistry of UFRGS inaugurated in 1994 is engaged in research in the field of organometallic catalysis for the purpose of furthering fundamental knowledge and industrial applications of bond-making and bond-breaking catalytic reactions promoted by transition-metal complexes. The international nature of catalysis research at LMC is ill
ustrated by extensive collaboration with foreign research groups (USA, France, Spain, Germany, etc.) and by exchange programs involving under-graduate and graduate students. Extensive industrial collaboration is also evident, research contracts covering about two thirds of our running costs and supporting master and doctorate students during their thesis work. The LMC has 4-6 projects per year supported by Brazilian agencies/Companies (FINEP, CAPES, CNPq, FAPERGS, PETROBRAS, BRASKEM, and other Industry Partners). The Laboratory is mainly located in the building K (rooms 102, 106, 115, 119, 208B and 210) of the Institute of Chemistry at the "Campus do Vale" of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. The new LMC building with 1,700 m2 is under construction and should be inaugurated in January 2010. PETROBRAS, CNPq and CAPES finance the construction of this new building. The Laboratory is composed by core researches: Prof. Dr. Jairton Dupont, Prof. Dr. Günter Ebeling and Prof. Dr. Adriano Lisboa Monteiro of the Department of Organic Chemistry and Prof. Dr. Osvaldo Lázaro Casagrande Jr of the Department of Inorganic Chemistry. Graduate students from different courses (Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Material Sciences) preparing their master and doctoral thesis in LAMOCA. Our research interests are broadly based in synthetic, mechanistic, and structural organometallic chemistry with special emphasis on their application in homogeneous, liquid-liquid two-phase and supported catalysis, and nanomaterials. Research activities can be grouped in the following categories:
Design, synthesis and characterization of organometallic complexes of Ni, Pd,Ru, Rh, V and Zr containing N and P ligands modified with ionophilic moieties. Design, synthesis and physical-chemical properties of ionic liquids (molten salts) based mainly on 1,3-dialkylimidazolium cation and their application of immobilizing agents for organometallic catalyst precursors. Design, synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials in ionic liquids and their use in catalysis, fuel cells and solar cells devices. Metal-catalyzed process (oligomerization, telomerization, hydrogenation, hydroformylation, carbonylation and cross-coupling reactions) by organometallic catalyst precursors in homogeneous media or dissolved in ionic liquids. Design, synthesis and characterization of organometallic complexes of Ni, Cr, Ti, V and Zr containing N-, O-, S- and P- based tridentate ligands and their use in oligonerization and polymerization of olefins in homogeneous and heterogeneous media.
