Danny Broere talks about ‘a chemical toolbox for the future’
Eye-opener movie
Danny Broere featured in a one-minute movie talking about ‘a chemical toolbox for the future’. Danny tells about his research in finding possibilities to use tricks from nature so that we no longer need oil. Oil is an important raw material for many products, but unfortunately it is not very sustainable. There are alternatives where plant based waste serves as a raw material, but this requires a different chemical approach.
Background
This video is part of Danny’s Veni project, which focuses on the developing multimetallic catalysts for selective activation of aryl-ether bonds in lignin-derived aromatics. The envisioned catalysts should enable the direct functionalization of these biomass-derived aromatics for fine chemical synthesis, whilste retaining the valuable functionalities that nature has already installed in them.
Inspired by this tool in Nature’s toolbox, Danny and his team focus on obtaining fundamental understanding of how to activate strong chemical bonds, and use this knowledge to develop new catalysts for the conversion of abundant materials or waste products into valuable chemicals.
Danny is part of the Organic Chemistry & Catalysis group of the Chemistry Department and Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science.
About eye-openers
The eye-openers.nl initiative is an online stage for talented young scientists. Here they talk about their research: what it is about, what inspires them, and what they are dreaming of. All in clear language, visually stunning and in only one minute.