Two ERC-Proof of Concept for Miquel Costas and Xavi Ribas

Xavi Ribas and Miquel Costas are awarded with an ERC-PoC (ERC Proof of Concept) each to implement the results of their research in the market.

The first one, "Copper Catalysis Applications", leaded by Xavi Ribas, intends to enhance the characteristics of catalysis of organic transformations based on copper. In the research lab, his group has developed protocols that allow selectively coupling reactions for C-N and C-O bonds. This ERC-PoC project will explore the possibility of bringin this new technology to a commercial phase. In general, copper is an abundant and economical metal which enables the development of new technologies that can be aimed at the design of more sustainable chemical synthesis.

The second one, "Biologically inspired chiral oxidation catalysts for commercial applications of fine chemistry", leaded by Miquel Costas, will study how chiral catalysts may be used to oxidize achiral organic molecules in an easy and more economic manner. The project intends to scale-up the synthetic methods developed in the research group to a (pre-)commercial level that is needed by the fine chemical industry.