Miguel Rivero Crespo

Research

We are an interdisciplinary research group working at the interface between organic chemistry, materials science and catalysis. Our main research focus is the use of porous materials as heterogeneous catalysis for sustainable organic chemistry. We are focused on the design of highly efficient multifunctional catalysts to unlock highly challenging reactivity for conventional catalysts. In our group, we combine a number of different techniques and methodologies to achieve our goals:

– Synthesis of new, multifunctional catalytic materials.

– Mechanistic investigations using operando characterization techniques.

– Mechanistically guided catalyst design.

– Development of new organic reactions.

Sustainability aspects

We want to make chemistry more sustainable, and we believe that catalysis holds the key for that! By developing new catalytic processes with high atom economy, we avoid the use of wasteful stoichiometric reagents. By designing more efficient catalysts, we reduce the energy consumption and maximize resource utilization. And by using solid catalysts, we improve recovery and reuse of catalysts.

Moreover, one of our main goals is to develop new catalytic processes for depolymerization of reactions back to the original monomers. This will allow to increase circularity in polymeric materials, optimizing resource and energy consumption and minimizing waste generation, and is key to ensure a sustainable future.