Source: Xinhua

04-15-2009 14:02

Special Report:   Tech Max

OTTAWA, April 13 (Xinhua) -- A University of Toronto research team has discovered useful "green" catalysts made from iron that might replace the much more expensive and toxic platinum metals typically used in industrial chemical processes to produce drugs, fragrances and flavors.

Canadian chemists discover new "green" catalysts

The synthesis of drugs usually relies on the use of catalysts and the expense of the catalysts influences the ultimate cost of the drug. If the catalyst is toxic, as it usually is when platinum-metals such as ruthenium, rhodium and palladium are used, then it must be removed completely from the synthesized product using costly purification techniques.

"With a cheaper and less toxic catalyst, like iron, these drawbacks are avoided," says Professor Robert Morris in a school press release on Monday.

Their trick was to prepare a complex of iron with a structure similar to the most active ruthenium catalyst, says Morris. The catalyst was made by attaching to iron, in its "ferrous" state, an organic molecule that contains carbon, hydrogen, phosphorus and nitrogen.

The successful use of iron as a catalyst in place of the more commonly used ruthenium is surprising since iron has been considered to be a "base metal" of low catalytic activity.

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Editor:Yang Jie