Mastering metal-PHOSphonate properties in PORE-size engineered catalysts for bio-refinery processes (PHOSPORE)

The pursuit of recovering bio-renewable chemicals from smartly-selected biomass side-streams is a key
aspect in the sustainable resource management targets, put forward in the European Green deal. Highperformance
catalysts, such as porous metal phosphonates (PMPs), are expected to play a central role in
these conversion strategies, due to their tunable surface groups, porosity and extraordinary hydrolytic stability.
However, the lack of full structural control in wet-chemical synthesis routes hinders their further development
and wide applicability. This project addresses the need for a disentanglement of the synthesis-structureproperty
triangle in PMPs, focusing on the crucial metal(VI)- phosphonate interactions. Hereto, structurally
related clusters and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) will serve as metal-phosphonate interaction models. As
such, conclusive correlations between the data fingerprints and the bonding modes in the models will be
transferred to the PMPs, allowing their full structural elucidation. Subsequently, the novel MOFs and PMPs will
be applied in two representative biorefinery processes, evaluating their catalytic selectivity and stability. As
such, not only a more efficient biomass valorization is expected, but also a valuable information feedback loop
to the catalyst design and characterization stage. Hence, an essential knowledge leap in the intertwined hybrid
porous material development and catalytic platform chemical conversion is aspired.