The Barta Group

Research in the Barta group is centered around sustainability and Green Chemistry with a special focus on the conversion of renewable resources and catalysis using earth-abundant metals. Two main research lines are being pursued:

1.) synthesis and characterization of novel heterogeneous catalysis for the cleavage of crude lignocellulose resources, including lignocellulose pre-treatment and characterization

2.) new homogeneous catalytic methods for the atom-economic functionalization of the obtained building blocks.

A variety of research lines include reductive and hydrogen-neutral depolymerisation and defunctionalization of lignin to aromatic monomers. Similarly, reductive approaches using copper catalysts are used for the conversion of cellulose and derived platform chemicals to a variety of end products. Here, the central aim is to find new concepts that allow to deal with complexity and changed material inputs and to identify causes of and minimize side reactions which lead to decreased product yields. In addition, we are involved in developing new methods for iron-catalysed coupling of alcohols and amines as well as hydrogenation of carbonyl compounds including esters also in an asymmetric fashion.